


Harry Potter and the Accumulation of Power

by Zyachta



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Canon, F/M, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-16
Updated: 2013-06-16
Packaged: 2017-12-15 04:12:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 20
Words: 76,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/845179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zyachta/pseuds/Zyachta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the Chamber of Secrets, the basilisk venom had already been in his system for several minutes before Fawkes healed him, what if Fawkes was too late ? Super!Harry / Harry/Many / Gray Harry, rating for later chapters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Authors Notes: Standard fan fiction understandings apply. I don't own any part of JKRs' Harry Potter world or its' characters, I'm just taking a swim around in her pond as it were. In addition, as I live in America and have never been to the UK, I am basing any information I have off other writers, and web based sources, so if I make a mistake it was not intentional.

Please remember this is a piece of fan fiction, which in other words is a large what if. It starts in movie-canon and then is shot into orbit, so I ask you if you find the characters acting different than canon, or in a manner, other than you think they would, I invite you to write your own story, instead of criticising mine. 

Just for story development Fawkes is a female phoenix. This will be a Super!Harry story, every writer writes at least one, and this is one of the two I am writing, in addition this story will be a Harry/Multiple Partner story, hopefully tastefully, as you will later find out, again everyone writes at least one, and this is my one (at least for now).

Reviews are welcome, as this is the first story that I have actually posted here, I will use my reviews as a gauge if I should post anymore of my other stories.

 

Harry Potter and the Accumulation of Power  
By Zyachta

Chapter 1 

[In the Chamber of Secrets, Harry is trying to wake Ginny while the ghost of Tom Riddle continues to taunt him.]

"Remarkable isn’t it, how quickly the venom of the basilisk penetrates the body?" said Riddle. Harry looking down at the hole left in his arm by the Basilisk fang. "I’d guess you have little more than a minute to live. You’ll be with your dear mudblood mother soon, Harry”.   
Harry was pissed, he knew we was dying but taking shots at his mother was just not something he was willing to hear.   
"Funny, the damage a silly little book can do... especially in the hands of a silly, little girl." continued Riddle.

'The book, he's tied to Ginny through the book, well let see if what happens if I destroy the book', Harry thought as he pulled the book from Ginny's hands and opened on the floor. 

"What are you doing?" Riddle yelled the superior smirk quick changing to the look of fear in an instant, as Harry raised the basilisk fang above the open pages "Stop!" Riddle screamed as Harry slammed the tooth into the book causing a black liquid to ooze from its pages. "No! Ahhhh!" Riddle cried as Harry repeated the action on the adjoining page "Ahhhh!" and then through the cover. "Ahhhh!!" as the spectre of Tom Riddle explodes, and then an eerie cry sounds throughout the chamber as a black mist rises and then dissipates.

The colour started to return to Ginny's face immediately, and she starts to come to. "Ginny..." Harry starts as he tries to help her up. 

"Harry. It was me- but I swear, I didn’t mean to! Riddle made me, and..." Ginny starts but stops when she sees the hole in Harrys arm. "Harry, you’re hurt!" Ginny continues. 

Harry pulls his damaged arm out of Ginny's view. "Don’t worry. Ginny, you need to get yourself out. Follow the Chamber, and you’ll find Ron." Harry explains as Ginny gets to her feet. 

Just then Fawkes moves over to look as the wound in Harry's arm and then stares directly into Harry's eye. 'God, it's like Fawkes is looking right into my soul' Harry thought before continuing "You were brilliant, Fawkes. I just wasn’t quick enough..." Then tears fall from Fawkes eyes directly on the wound, with a sizzle and a hiss the hole closes over "Of course! Phoenix tears have healing powers." as the last of the tears close leaving a puncture scar where the hole was. "Thanks!" Harry states to Fawkes, but Fawkes looks back and forth at Harry's arm and then back to Harry's face several times, and then lets out a soothing tune which makes both Ginny and Harry feel better.

Harry goes to stand up but realizes his legs aren't working and quickly looks at Fawkes, as Fawkes seems to nod. 'Damn, Fawkes wasn't in time' Harry thought, 

"Harry is something wrong?" Ginny asks. 

"No, just knackered from the fight I guess. Ginny why don't you go down the tunnel and let Ron know everything is alright, I know he is worried about you. Fawkes will get you up to the school and then come back for me, won't you Fawkes?" Harry asks. Fawkes again seems to nod and jumps up on Ginny's shoulder. 

"Are you sure Harry? I can wait until you're ready." Ginny asked with concern in her eyes. 

"No go ahead, I will wait for Fawkes to come back, just let everyone know you’re alright, most of the school has been worried about you." Harry says with as much strength as he could put behind it. 

"Alright, we will send Fawkes back right away and I let Madam Pomfrey know you will be coming." Ginny says as she starts to head down the tunnel Harry pointed to.

As soon as Ginny's is out of sight, Harry laid back down on the hard wet floor, as his strength was slowly depleted by the venom already in his system. 'I tried, I just wasn't good enough. At least Ginny is alright' Harry thought only to be interrupted in his musings. 

"That was very heroic Mr Potter, I guess Gryffindor was the proper house to put you in after all" the sorting hat stated, as it had somehow righted itself and was looking at Harry, as Harry raised his head to look at the hat. 

"Thanks, I guess. At least she is safe, and since I stopped Voldemort I guess everyone else is safe too" Harry said as a violent shudder through his body caused him to have to lowered himself back to the ground as his strength gave out. 

"Yes only a true Gryffindor would sacrifice themselves for another, most would rather live than save someone else" the hat continued. 

"I never thought of anything else, someone was in trouble and I tried to help. I guess Hermione is correct I do have a saving people thing" Harry laughed through another violent shudder as he coughs up some fluid from his lungs. 

"That's what I meant. I has been a privilege meeting someone that selfless Mr Potter, I will remember you in the years to come. Is there anything you want me to pass along to your friend and family for you" the hat asked, knowing the young man did not have much time left, if Phoenix tears couldn't stop the venom from doing its job, there wasn't anything anyone upstairs could do. 

As another violent tremor and more fluid was spit out Harry trying to think of something to say. As the tremors increased rapidly Harry coughed out "Nothing for my family as I don't really have one, but please have Fawkes leave me here and seal the Chamber, the wizarding world would just turn me into a monument or something if they had my body. For my friends, I wish I would have ..." unfortunately Harry never got to finish his statement to his friend as the venom reached his brain and Harry Potter was no more. Mere seconds later Fawkes flamed in and approached Harry Potter noticing he was not moving. 

"I'm sorry but you’re too late; the basilisk venom has ended Mr Potter's life just now. He asked that we leave him here and seal the chamber, as he did not want to be turned into a bigger spectacle in death, than what the wizarding world turn him into in life. Leave the sword of Gryffindor here with him, as I don't think I will ever find someone more worthy of it than Mr Potter. Please take me to the Great Hall as I know everyone is gathering to leave." Fawkes looked one more time as Harry before pouncing on the Hat and flaming out, leaving the body of Harry Potter as he asked, no one saw the black ooze leave the lightning shaped scar on Harry's forehead or the repeat of the eerie cry sound from ten minutes earlier.

 

[Great Hall, Hogwarts]

All the students were sitting at their tables as Minerva quickly re-entered the hall and approached the main podium to speak. 

"It appears that Ginny Weasley has been rescued from the Chamber of Secret and is in the infirmary recovering, and from what I understand the creature responsible has been defeated. The school will not be closing as you may have heard." Minerva stated in her crisp Scottish tone, as the students cheered. "Since today is Thursday, classes are hereby cancelled for the remainder of the week to help everyone get resettled in. Those ..." she continued she was interrupted by the flash of Fawkes appearing with the sorting hat, dropping it at her feet and then flashing back out. 

"Please pick me up and place me on a stool, I have a message and news to deliver" the hat stated sadly. Minerva seemed shaken by this as she had been told the hat and Fawkes were with Harry Potter, but Harry Potter has not arrived with Fawkes, a sense of dread filled Minerva as did as the hat had requested.

"It falls to me to deliver the most grave of news. During the rescue of Miss Weasley in the Chamber of Secrets, Mr Potter was pierced through the arms by the fang of a basilisk .." the hat started only to be interrupted by shrieks and cries from the students and staff that understood what this meant, ".. if I may continue, Fawkes used tears to try to heal the damage done to Mr Potter, unfortunately the tears were not administered in time, and Mr Potter has passed on." again the hat was interrupted as some of the students broke out in cries, even a few of the Slytherin. "Mr Potter defeated a 60 foot basilisk and saved Miss Weasley whilst also disrupting a ritual that would have returned Lord Voldemort to a physical body. His last request was for his body to be left where it is laid, and to have the Chamber sealed, which has been done." All throughout the hats speech, the cries of outrage, sorrow and pain continued. Minerva and most of the staff were in shock at what they had just been told, even Professor Snape seemed uncharacteristically quiet. The majority of the students were either in shocked silence or crying for the loss of one of their own.

 

[Leaky Cauldron, Room 11]

Albus Dumbledore, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Order of Merlin First Class, and Headmaster of Hogwarts Schools of Wizardry was sitting in his rented room awaiting the message to return to Hogwarts. He had discovered that the Governors of Hogwarts that had signed his dismissal had been coerced by none other than Lucius and he was waiting on his reinstatement so he could return and help secure HIS school. 'Even if they were coerced they should have known better than to try to remove me from MY school, they will be dealt with shortly'

 

[Chamber of Secrets]

Fawkes reappeared in the Chamber and circled before landing next to Harrys' body. Fawkes let of a song of sorry that filled the Chamber and stared as the ceiling of the chamber as if looking for guidance, before launching back into the air and singing a violent song that continued to build in severity and meaning. As Fawkes circled flames surround her and became brighter and brighter, the longer the song went. Finally as Fawkes was encased in almost a white flame, she stopped flying and spread her wings wide falling backward towards Harry’s body. As Fawkes's falling form came in contact with Harry's body a screech was let out of Fawkes body as she and the body of Harry Potter were engulfed in white flames reducing both to ask in seconds, and leaving the Chamber silent once again.

 

[Leaky Cauldron, Room 11]

 

On the floor of the small room laid the unconscious form of Albus Dumbledore. Since he was unconscious he would have to wait until he awoke to find the post owl waiting with his reinstatement letter and the even more shocking Daily Prophet with the headline "Boy-Who-Lived killed at Hogwarts"


	2. Chapter 2

[Hogwarts, Headmasters Office, Saturday Evening]

Headmaster Dumbledore's return to the castle, should have been a happy occasion, but the news of Mr Potters death had been the news of the day as it flashed across the wizarding world press faster than a brush fire, and no one with the exception of a few Slytherin which were currently recovering in the medical wing after making the wrong type of comments as the worst time in the Great Hall the previous evening, cared about much anything else.

He was to have returned yesterday, but found himself waking up on the floor this afternoon in his room at the Cauldron. He must have been more tired than he thought as he slept so soundly, he had not woken when he fell on the floor. But once he read the headline in the Prophet he had left immediately. He found himself extremely tired, a kind of tired he could not explain, 'Must be from sleeping on the floor, I'm getting too old for this' he thought to himself.

The main topics on his mind for the past 24 hours had been the disappearance of Fawkes and prophesy. Fawkes had not come to transport Albus to the school when summoned, and had not been seen by anyone since dropping the Sorting Hat off in the great Hall. While the disappearance of Fawkes was not uncommon, not coming when summoned was. As for the prophesy he was trying to decide, if this battle in the Chamber was the completion of the prophecy or if Harry was truly dead would there be anyone to stop Voldemort if he tried to come back again. He would have to keep a close eye on this situation from here on out. 

But for now he was planning for his meeting with the staff of Hogwarts trying to figure out what to do, all his carefully laid plans we worthless as Harry was no longer there to fulfil them. The school board and the wizarding world was demanding proof that Hogwarts was safe, and the ministry was demanding the body of Harry Potter so they could have a state memorial service, even though Harry had specifically asked to be left in the chamber to avoid one. Albus was not fooled by the ministers’ demands, he knew without a body the ministry would have to wait a year and a day before plundering the vast Potter fortune, as this was one law even the Wizengamot could not change as it was listed in the original articles of the Wizards Council and was unchangeable. Not that it would do Fudge or his team any good, as Albus knew the Potter will left everything to charity if there were no Potters left. He would have to siphon off what he could of the Potter fortune before the Ministry and Wizengamot forced his hand on the will of James & Lily Potter, which as Chief Warlock he been able to keep suppressed and have himself assigned as Harry's magical guardian so he could use the Potter fortune as he saw fit, while Harry had been left to live at the Dursleys. But with Harry dead, he would have to get what he could in the time remaining.

 

[White Light Chamber]

The room was full of white light, it reflected off the marble white walls and columns, the two far walls had windows that showed a beautiful landscape of forests and clouds as far the eyes could see. The sun was shining and letting even more light into this already bright chamber. In the middle of the room stood 30 half height marble columns in the form of a semi-circle, in the centre and in front of the semi-circle on the floor was the naked body of a raven haired boy. He was well developed, average weight but no fat, muscular, approximately 5' in height, his hair was shoulder length. The most noticeable features of the young man were the large phoenix tattoo emblazoned across his chest, which was continued with the back of the phoenix tattooed on the boys back, and the slight scar impression of a lightning bolt on his forehead above his right eye. 

The boy started to move slightly, and with a moan and a great deal of effort he opened his eyes, only to let out a larger moan and close them as the bright light overwhelmed his senses. 'Great I make it to heaven and it is too damn bright to see anything' Harry thought to himself. His hand covers his eyes to keep the light down, as he tries again. 'Better, guess I don't need glasses in the afterlife' he thought noticing the lack of glasses, but the focus of his surrounding as his eyes adjusted to the light. Standing up, he quickly noticed his lack of clothing, "Ugh, where are my clothes" Harry cried out. Moments later a set of white and gold robes appeared on one of the columns he found himself surrounded by. Quickly going to cover himself Harry notices the huge Phoenix tattoo, as well as the change in his body. After quickly cataloguing all the changes to look into later, he quickly gets dressed. 'Well at least I am fit and clothed but if this is heaven it really does not live up to its reputation’ Harry thought. Just as he completed his thought, the sounds of what could be described as a sort of laughter surrounded him and the room is again filled by light, this time in the form of fire. Once the flames receded the forms of 30 different types of phoenix appear on the tops of each of the 30 columns.

'Welcome young Mr Potter', Harry could have sworn he heard in his head. 'You did Mr Potter, we are known as the council and this is the only form of communication you would currently understand. Please have a seat we have much to discuss' as this was being heard, an extremely soft and comfortable chair appears facing the centre of the semi-circle.

Harry sat down thinking 'great, dead and still going to school'. At this the phoenix again trilled a form of laughter. 

 

[Headmasters Office, Hogwarts, Sunday Morning]

Dumbledore was sitting at his desk thinking about the schools situation when Lucius Malfoy enters.

"I had heard you had returned" Lucius Malfoy stated with a sneer. 

"When the governors learned that Arthur Weasley’s daughter was taken into the Chamber and that of the death of young Mr Potter when I was unavailable to come to his aid, they saw fit to summon me back." Dumbledore answered

"Ridiculous" Lucius replied

"Curiously, Lucius, several of them were under the impression that you would curse their families, if they did not agree to suspend me in the first place." Dumbledore answered back.

"How dare you?!" Lucius challenged

"I beg your pardon?" Dumbledore questioned

"My sole concern has always been, and will always be, the welfare of this school and, of course, its students. The culprit has been identified, I presume?" Lucius inquired.

"Oh, yes. Voldemort." Albus responded

"Ah!" answered back Lucius, somewhat relieved.

"It seems this time he chose to work through someone, by the means of an enchanted journal. Unfortunately the journal was left in the chamber with young Mr Potter and we are unable to open it since it has been sealed, we may never know how the journal came into Miss Weasley's procession. One hopes that no more of Lord Voldemort's old school things should find their way into innocent hands. The consequences for the one responsible would be severe." Albus stated.

"Yes, and without Mr Potter to come to their aid, it would be most unfortunate." Lucius finished and left again with a sneer on his face.

 

[White Light Chamber]

'Mr Potter, as I mentioned we are the Council and you being brought to us is most unusual. In fact you are the first human to be brought in front of this council ever'. Harry looked around but he had the distinct feeling the large white Phoenix in the middle of the semi-circle was the one that was talking, thinking, communication with him, whatever. 'Yes Mr Potter, please forgive me for not introducing myself, the best my name would convert in your language would be Sorlan (Sor-Lan), and you were quite right as I am the white Phoenix in the middle whom you are communicating with' 

"Ah, well please call me Harry, when I hear Mr Potter I think I have done something wrong. Unless by being here I have done something wrong, than by all means call me whatever you like” Harry rambled. Another trill of laughter was heard from the Phoenixes.

'No Harry, you have done nothing wrong, as a matter of fact, the reason you are here is that you impressed one of our sisters so much she risked her own life to bring you here, which is unprecedented.' Sorlan continued.

"Fawkes? Is she alright? Why would she risk her own life for mine, I was already dying." Harry cried out, very scared that something had happened to Fawkes, so scared in fact he did not pick up on the more important fact until after he asked the question. 'Wait, Fawkes risked her life to bring me here, does that mean I am not dead?' he though as his mind started processing the information he had been given.

Another trill of joy was heard through the chamber, Harry was getting a little annoyed at that. 'Harry, please don't take offence, our laughter as you interpret it, is sounds of joy, as by your own reactions you prove Fawkes risk was a just one. To answer your questions Fawkes will be fine she if just recuperating after forced burning, she will be recovered shortly. As to why she risked her own life, according to her, she had found a new companion who was truly worthy of a phoenix, who was selfless, caring for people he hardly knew more than he did himself. The council has reviewed your memory of the events in the Chamber of Secrets where you save Miss Weasley, and your conversation afterwards. We saw you care for her and ensure her everything was well, when you had already figured out you were dying. We watched as you encouraged her out of sight, back to her brother and back to safety before you collapsed from the pain. We heard you tell the Hogwarts Sorting hat how you never thought to stop as someone was in trouble. Having what your friend Hermione calls a 'saving people thing' is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact in this case it brought you to us. Our laughter was caused by the fact that even after making this sacrifice, the first thing you did when you heard Fawkes might be in trouble was ask about her, not yourself, actually you only thought of yourself last, which is incredibly rare in any species. To answer your last question, no you are not dead, however you are no longer what you were either' 

 

[Hogwarts, Great Hall. Sunday Evening]

Along with the entire student body (minus the recovering Slytherin in the medical wind), the professors, staff, Headmaster, Mr & Mrs Weasley, Minister of Magic Fudge, Lucius Malfoy and a selection of the school board of governors, Head of the DMLE, Amelia Bones and three aurors, (Kingsley Shacklebolt, Hestia Jones, and cadet Nymphadora Tonks), Rita Skeeter from the Daily Prophet, and Xeno Lovegood from the Quibbler were all present. At the front table of the hall was a wizard photo of Harry Potter taken after he caught the snitch in his first Quidditch match, and a large court pensive and the Sorting Hat.

"As we gather together tonight, we remember one of our own who gave his life to save another" Albus stated solemnly, pausing to the sounds of tears from throughout the hall, none louder than from Gryffindor, and Harry's friends Hermione Granger, and the entire Weasley family. "There has been demands from the board of governors and the Ministry of Magic for proof that Hogwarts is safe to remain open. With the help of a pensive memory from Miss Weasley and by agreement of cooperation from the Hogwarts' Sorting Hat we will see what transpired in the Chamber of Secrets this past Thursday evening. Please note the Sorting Hat would only agree if this memory was shown in front of the student body at the same time as the Ministry, Press and School Board in an attempt to make sure the facts were known correctly by as many of you as possible so they could not be misinterpreted or misreported” this last point was made while Albus stared at Rita Skeeter, which she did shy away from slightly.

"I still think this is unnecessary Dumbledore, simply give us the hat and we will remove the memory at the Ministry" stated the Minister.

"Alas that cannot happen Cornelius if you were try to remove the memory from the hat, the magic of the hat would be lost forever and you would be guilty of destroying property of the founders. In addition, it would also give question if the information was accurate, and I believe Harry's classmates have the right to know the truth" Dumbledore answered back to a visibly upset Minister, as well as a sneering pair, in the form of Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy.

"Get on with it then" Fudge replied.

With a swish of his hands the light in the great hall diminished, and the court Pensive started the playback, which the first part was sound only. "Please note there is nothing wrong the picture is blank as Miss Weasley was unconscious during the initial confrontation of Mr Potter and Voldemort, so the memory is only what she heard, the picture will return uninterrupted as soon as the Sorting Hat arrives on the scene" Albus quickly explained. 

The memory of the conversation of the wraith like Tom Riddle explaining his transformation to Lord Voldemort was listen to by all, and the shock was evident in all their faces, expect Dumbledore who knew this all along. Just as the sounds of the Basilisk was heard and the screech of Fawkes arrive was heard the picture of the memory took form as the Sorting Hat sent its memory into the pensive.

The screams, cries and even cheers of the students and observers as Harry killed the Basilisk filled the Great Hall, but the cries and whimpers grew as the damage to Harry's arm was shown, the final destruction of the wraith of Voldemort was a hollow victory as most knew the final outcome. The sounds of Ginny Weasley crying were muffled as she clung to her father as Harry sent her out with encouragement, even though he knew he was dying. The sounds of terror and cries of sympathy filled the hall during the tremor filled last moments of the boy-who-lived. The nods of the masses heads when Harry mentioned the memorial making a shame of his life were not missed by Amelia and even Fudge could admit it, even though he would never do it publicly. As Fawkes appeared and took away the Sorting Hat, the lights came back up to show there were few dry eyes in the Hall, with the notable exception of Snape and Malfoy, and a few members of Slytherin house.

As they Great Hall sat in shock and wonder at what they had just seen, everyone in the Great Hall, even Rita Skeeter, agreed that the boy-who-lived was gone, and more importantly most of them understood that a friend and classmate had died.

\---


	3. Chapter 3

[White Light Chamber]

"What do you mean ' no longer what you were ' " Harry asked, while trying not to sound as scared as he was at the implications running through his head.

'As you have noticed your body has been, how do you say...repaired ... improved. We had to neutralized the basilisk venom in your system with the addition of more phoenix tears, we had hoped it would have been eliminated during your regeneration but it has already be absorbed into your system. We also removed residual dark magic from around the scar on your forehead, and repaired multiple signs of damage done to your entire body. You were showing lingering signs of malnutrition and had multiple poorly repaired and still healing broken bones, most from the incidents at your relatives’ home. We also discovered that your magical core was blocked several times, to the point that complete sections of it were blocked to be completely inaccessible. Disturbingly we found you had border line brain damage from exposures to excessive memory charm use, we are assuming this damage was either caused by a combination of the number of times the spells were used, your block on your core limited your magic from healing the damage in a timely manner, and the lack of energy your body had to repair it naturally from the malnutrition we discovered. Unfortunately the memory charms erased what they were supposed to, however we have corrected the damage and released the blocks on your core, you will have to learn to control your power flow before casting higher level spells as we calculated your core was block near 75%. Finally we corrected your eyesight, as it was a result of living in that cupboard with little to no light, and attempting to read without the proper light.' Sorlan explained.

"Alright I sort of understand some of that, and I will get back to the areas I have questions on, but I have two questions first. One what is with this large phoenix tattoo", pointing to his chest, "and how does correcting all that damage make me 'no longer what I was’?" Harry asked scared of the response, but still wanting to know.

'The answers to your questions are one in the same... Your body had died but your soul seemed trapped in your body, we surmised whatever dark magic had been in that scar must have left your body first and had delayed your own soul from moving on. Fawkes hoped she might be able to save you, but to do so she needed to use so much energy so she could forcing herself to the point of burn out, to trigger her burning day ahead of schedule and hopefully capture you in event for this to work on you, she had to donate a part of herself to you so your physical body could regenerate. She knew once this was done, it could never be undone, but she believes you are worthy of such a gift...' Sorlan paused to let this sink in, '... The tattoo as you call it is actually a burned image of Fawkes as she released that part of herself into you, as her regenerative cycle started and the energy passed through your physical body.' Sorlan finished.

"I still don't understand why Fawkes would risk so much for me, I had only met her a couple of times. I have heard of a number of people in the muggle world that have sacrificed themselves for other, even strangers. Fire fighters, police, and Aurors do it all the time. What makes me so different? Also what will this part of Fawkes do to me other than the tattoo?" Harry rambled on feeling he now had more questions than answers.

'Well you will have to ask Fawkes when she discovers why she did this for you, but in comparison to those muggles you mentioned, those stories you hear about someone doing extraordinary things to save a loved one, are done when they have an emotional attachment to someone so strong it over powers their own self preservation. As for fire fighter, police, and Aurors, they are doing a service they chose to take upon themselves, they are trained to look over the situation with the outcome of coming back alive, you neither chose the career, received the training or had the deep emotion connection of any of them, but as you said you never thought of doing anything else. If I had to guess, that would be the reasons I would think Fawkes believes you to be a worthy companion. As for the changes caused by the piece of Fawkes that now resides in you, that will take a little more time to fully explain, and is something that I truly believe Fawkes should explain to you.' Sorlan explained.

Still confused and a little put out that again he finds himself in a situation that he was not being given all the information about something that had been done to him, Harry asked "Maybe you could answer a couple direct questions or give me something so I can think it over while Fawkes recovers?"

'I will try, ask your questions and I will give you the information I feel you can handle. I understand your frustration, and am not keeping information from you without reason, but I do promise all your questions will be answered in time' Sorlan replied.

"Alright let me think on what we have covered... ok, first question, how could I be Fawkes new companion, isn't she Dumbledore's companion?" Harry asked.

'No, Fawkes was Dumbledore's familiar, she broke her bonds with him when she saved your life to become your companion.' Sorlan stated.

"Every time I ask a question, the answer gives me more questions" Harry states becoming more frustrated. "Could you tell me what the difference between a familiar and a companion is?" he asked.

'A familiar bond is what you have with your owl Hedwig, you can understand each other on a basic level, but cannot communicate directly. She will help you when she understands, and you have formed an emotion connection of friendship and look out for one another... A companion is much more than this, you will be together for the rest of your lives. Fawkes will be able to talk to you directly as I am doing now, you will share your adventures together. You will come to count on each other for support and companionship. You will never be able to lie to one another as you will always know what the other is thinking. This will be one of the changes I mentioned, you will need to learn how to distinguish her thoughts from your own. The other aspects of the companion should be explained by Fawkes when she can.' Sorlan answered.

Not liking that more questions popped up, than were answered by that explanation Harry continued, "Does that mean when I die, Fawkes will die?"

'Here I have to differ to Fawkes as well, as there are a large number of things you need to hear from her. To give you an incomplete answer, but as much as I can, the answer to your question would be Yes' Sorlan states.

"I just don't understand why? I really need to ask her, you had stated she would be available shortly, how long is that?' Harry asked while getting even more agitated.

'Since most of her regenerative energy went into you her regeneration cycle is slower than usual, she should be available in a couple of days.' Sorlan answered.

Knowing Fawkes usually was at least a chick moments after a burning, as he had witnessed it in Dumbledore's office, this worried Harry. "Are you sure she is going to be alright" Harry asked, obviously concerned.

'She will be fine young one, and I can see she has chosen her companion well', a new female voice entered Harry's mind, he looked over the collection of phoenixes and seemed to feel this voice came from a red feathered phoenix on the far left of the semi-circle, she reminded Harry of Fawkes, but seemed older somehow. 'Very good, I would not have thought you would have been able to determine who I was that quickly, and the determination of my age being old than Fawkes is quite interesting. I am Lairawks, and I am Fawkes mother.' the phoenix Harry was looking at now answered.

'Mother?' Harry quickly thought, "It is a pleasure meeting you Lairawks, and I am glad she will be ok." Harry stated, surprised that meeting Fawkes mother sort of scared him more than finding himself talking to the council of the phoenix. Another trill of phoenix laughter was heard.

Slightly blushing but not exactly knowing why Harry continued, "Back to Dumbledore, what happened to him, when Fawkes broke the familiar bond? and could she decide to break the companion bond?" the second question bothering Harry more, but not understanding why.

'Dumbledore had been drawing energy from Fawkes for quite some time, he would be feeling quite tired, maybe even exhausted as he tries to adjust to his lower energy levels. However it is the belief of this council that Fawkes should have broken her bond with Dumbledore many years ago, and it was Fawkes belief that she could help him get back on the path that kept her there that long. As for the companion bond, there is no breaking of that bond, that is why you are only the second companion to be chosen in the past two thousand of your years.' Sorlan stated.

'2000 Years ?!, I wonder who the other one was, is he still around, maybe he could help me understand' the thoughts flew through Harry's head so fast he didn't even stop to think of answers, just more questions. 'What path was Dumbledore off of?, What path is he on now?, Does that path involve me?, If they were able to fixed everything about me, I wonder if they could make it so my hair behaved?, Is Fawkes the reason Dumbledore is known as the strongest wizard of our time?, Will I now be the strongest wizard of our time?, Do I want to be known as the strongest wizard of my time? How long have I been here?, When will I go back?, Do you think they might have something to drink, Will I go back?, Does anyone know I am missing?, Do they think I am dead?, Of course they think you are dead, you told the hat to leave you down there and seal the Chamber, he would have had to tell someone by now. I hope Hermione is no longer petrified. How am I going to explain I am alive, if I go back? I hope Hermione and Ginny are okay. If I go back, do you think they would let me take this chair, What will I become, if I am not what I was? Will I get training up here before going back, how will I train I don't have a wand? ' as the multitude of questions continued to swirl in Harrys' head he started to get light headed and dizzy and then his world went blank.

'I would say that is a good place to take a break, I am truly impressed we covered as much as we did before he was overwhelmed. When I talked to that chap Merlin when he bonded with Archimedes, and I explained he was not an owl but a phoenix, he passed out after two minutes. I agree Lairawks, your daughter has chosen well. Will someone make sure to provide young Harry a drink and something to eat when he wakes up, even though he does not need it here it might let him feel more comfortable.' Sorlan stated as 29 phoenix flamed away. The last phoenix, Lairawks, hoped down from the column and landed on the armrest of the chair and looked over Harry. 'Yes, you will make a perfect companion for my daughter, you will treat her right, and never use her like the Dumbledore fellow' Lairawks thought before flashing away. Leaving Harry Potter resting alone in the plush chair in the council chamber.

 

[Gringotts, Chief Ragnok's Office, Friday Morning]

Ragnok sits looking over the Daily Prophet headline describing the death of Harry Potter, last member of the Potter Line, but then looks at the Potter accounts, which shows the end of the Potter line, and then the start of the Potter line showing Harry Potter as the active holder of the vaults, deeds, and monies, as well as listing him as holder of title of Lord Potter even though he is not of age. As these records are self-updating, and cannot be tampered with this ending and starting of a line should be impossible. 

"We must meet with Lord Potter as soon as he surfaces." Ragnok says to himself.

Quickly writing a note and sending it the records department, he requests all records on the Potter vaults since they were open and any active wills on the accounts. He knew the Wizengamot had sealed the Potter will for some reason, which normally he would not be bother looking into the affairs of Wizards, but this anomaly in the records bother him, he needed to know everything about this account, the Potters are one of the oldest accounts in Gringotts, he would review this personally.

'I have a feeling Mr Potter is going to be a very unusual customer, which is usually good for business' Ragnok thought to himself smiling a smile only a goblin could appreciate.


	4. Chapter 4

[White Light Chamber]

Harry still sleeping on the chair. Next to the chair is a small table with a couple sandwiches and a pitched of pumpkin juice and a stand where a older looking phoenix sits and watch as Harry starts to stir.

As Harry opens his eyes, "Ugh... Where am I, turn down the lights", blinking his eyes to adjust to the bright light, he focuses on the phoenix, "Right so it wasn't a dream" Harry states while sitting up noticing the food. 

'No Mr Potter, not a dream, I could bite you if you would like me to prove you are not sleeping' the phoenix states with a hint of amusement in his voice

"Sorry, just a little too much to take in all at once, how long was I out?" Harry asks pouring himself a glass of juice and drinking it quickly.

'I'm not sure I only arrived a short time ago. I was just about to wake you when you awoke.' the phoenix answers

Reaching for a sandwich, "You don't mind if I eat do you? I haven't eaten since I got here." Harry asks

With a slight trill of laughter, 'No, please do if it makes you comfortable, I was told the food was provided at your request. It has been quite some time since I last communicated with a human, it is as interesting an experience as I remember' the phoenix responds.

"When was the last time you talked to a human?" Harry asked when finishing off his sandwich.

'Approximately 1100 years ago, at which time my companion severed our bonds and so he could start his next great adventure as it were.' the phoenix answered

"So you were the other phoenix to have a companion, I was hoping your companion could of helped me understand what is happening to me. I remember bits and pieces of what I was told, but honestly all it does is give me a headache... " Harry states and then looks at the phoenix again, "I'm sorry I didn't get your name, mine is Harry, I don't like being called Mr Potter, I'm always waiting to get yelled at or given a detention when I'm called that.." Harry joked, hoping to lighten the mood.

Again another short trill, 'I understand, my name is Chimedis, however you have probably heard of me as Archimedes' the phoenix answered.

" Archimedes? ... Archimedes? ... " sitting there trying to remember where he heard that name, and then remembering the information from the back of a chocolate frog card, 'Damn learned more history from those things than from Binns' harry though and then stated "Wait wasn't that the name of Merlin's owl ?" Harry asked bewildered.

The phoenix trills with laughter again, 'Yes, that was me. In that time man was not ready to see magic in the form you see today, and a magical phoenix would more likely been interpreted as some sort of demon, than what we are, so I took the form of a snowy white owl and became Emrys familiar. Approximately fifty years later, Emrys nearly killed himself in an alchemy experiment. Since we were far away from prying eyes, I transformed into my natural state and tried to heal his wounds with my tears, unfortunately he had too much damage for me to heal in time to save him, and he was not in any shape to be transported by flame as he was soaked in flammable liquids so I took a risk on my old friend and bonded myself to him to use my natural healing abilities to save his life. He recovered and was introduced to the council as you have been, once he accepted what happened I resumed my owl form, and we started adventuring again' Chimedis answered with the sound of pride in his voice.

Dumbfounded and shocked Harry was doing a great fish out of water expression, but could not even think of how to respond to what he had just heard. After several minutes trying to comprehend the information Harry finally asks "What was he like?, was he everything they say he was?"

'When I first met Emrys he was dumb as a door knob and twice as bright.' laughter trills interrupting Chimedis story, 'for all his life Emrys was able to do these amazing things, but he never actual understood what he was doing. When I landed on his shoulder and the familiar bond was formed, he never questioned getting the sense of understanding from me, he just excepted it as another in a long series of unexplained differences that made up his life. It took approximately twenty years, and the death of several of his friends before he started to question why he was different. During his search for answers over the next ten years he discovered the druid culture and their love of alchemy. Through their teachings he understood that what he was doing was magic or natures will and he started to learn to shape and control his abilities, instead of just experiencing them through what you would refer to as accidental magic. He was just coming to understand his place in the grand scheme of things when the accident that resulted in our bonding occurred. It was not until he met with the council and understood that magic has existed for thousands of years and there were untold numbers of magic species just waiting to be rediscovered, that the man you know of as Merlin appeared. We spent the next couple of centuries rediscovering forgotten species, making contact with the elves, the dwarves, the goblins, the giants, merpeople, dragons and the fairy folk. Emrys or Merlin if you prefer, found the magical world enlightening and exciting, and I will admit it was his enthusiasm and new perspective on the magic world than made it interesting to me again, as well. You see it seems that during our bonding, that Merlin had acquired a phoenixes ability to exude a sense of tranquillity and peace that other species found inviting and it open the world of magic to him in ways he would never have discovered before. I on the other hand inherited his dry wit, to my everlasting shame, and a fascination of man, which I unfortunately seem to have passed along down my family tree as it were. ' Chimedis explained, pausing to let Harry catch up.

"Several centuries? How old was Merlin when he died, I have never seen the same age twice no matter where I read it?" Harry asked fascinated by what he was hearing.

'Yes, Emrys use to get a laugh at the different stories that popped up about him. Some of his favourites where that he was mad, and he gained his powers through this madness. I think he would have laughed himself to death if he saw how your culture has built him up as some sort of demigod. To answer your earlier question, no he was not everything you have heard, but to me he was much more than you know. As I said his wonderment of the magical world allowed me to see things in ways no other phoenix has, I saw the good and the bad of mankind, the sacrifices family would make for loved ones, and the destruction over material wealth, I saw the destruction of one civilisation only to give rise to another in a ever repeating cycle. We were companions and more importantly we were brothers. It was his sacrifice when he severed our connection that allowed me to live. You see he was attempting to create a form of travel to replace what you now call apparating that actually severed the connection . He had been able to apparate for some time, however never seemed to like the feeling of it, he say he felt like he was being squeeze to death every time he did it, and travelling via phoenix fire always drew too much attention. So he spent the next six years trying to create a form of travel using what he knew about the apparate skill, flame travel and the magical travel of the elves. He had thought he had it figured out, even had a few short time successes, when he felt confident he tried a long range test and unfortunately something went wrong and he reappeared with most of his body turned inside out... The pain through our bond was excruciating, our joined healing ability was try to help, but it just kept the pain coming. His body started to pull more and more energy from me in an attempt to rectify what was wrong, but I was close to a burning and my energy levels were depleted in preparation to the event. He must have known or guessed that I didn't have enough energy to encompasses us both as Fawkes did with you, and that if he had pulled much more power from me that I would not have been able to complete the regeneration cycle even for myself. Somehow through the pain he was able to send me a message saying goodbye and then tore the connection between up and with it his magic core, his core imploded with the full force of his substantial magic energy and reserves, forcing me into my regeneration cycle and destroying most of the mountain range we had been living in. Once I completed my regeneration, I looked for any signs of him, but I was unable to find any. Eventually I accepted he was gone and as we had discussed many time over the years, I collected his books, staff, rings, scrolls, clothes, and all of his other worldly possession and deposited them in his vault at Gringotts to keep his research out of the hands of people that would pervert his life's work....' Chimedis explained solemnly.   
...

Harry again could not find the words or even thoughts on what to say, so say nothing...

 

[Hogwarts, Hallway outside the Medical Wing, Thursday Night, the night of the events in the Chamber of Secrets]

Minerva was a wreck, first Albus is sacked, then the message about the whereabouts of Ginny Weasley and finally the apparent disappearance of Mr Potter & Mr Weasley during the headcount in the Great Hall, she was checking the medical wing to see if they were there as the rest of the castle was being searched. 'They better be alright, because I am going to hex them within an inch of their lives for worrying me like this' Minerva thought to herself.

 

[Hogwarts, Medical Wing]

 

Madam Pomfrey is attending to the petrified students, running scans with her wand, when the arrival of Fawkes, depositing Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley and Gilderoy Lockhart on to a empty section of floor and flaming out nearly scarred her out of her skin. Immediately she entered healer mode and went to work.

"What has happened here" Pomfrey inquired as she started to run scans. 

Minerva enters approaching the four of them as Pomfrey asks the question.

"We went down into the Chamber of Secrets to save Ginny, and Lockhart hit himself with a backfired Obliviate when he tried to erase Harry and my memories.." Ron yelled.

"You tried to do what to my students?" Minerva screamed as she pointed her wand toward Lockhart, "Petrificus Totalus " casting the body bind spell followed up by Silencio to keep him quiet.

"Now each of you up on a bed, and start from the beginning while I tend to your injuries." Pomfrey commanded.

"Mr Weasley, I am glad you both are alright, do you know where Mr Potter is?"

"He is still down in the Chamber, Fawkes should be getting him now, Harry sent me ahead, as he knew Ron was injured and worried about me" Ginny answered weakly before passing out again as the wear of her adventure became too much. Pomfrey scanned he once again, before pulling the blankets up to her chin.

"Is she going to be alright?" a worried Ron and Minerva both asked. 

"Yes, simply exhausted physically, magically and I would assume emotionally, she should be alright after a couple days rest." Pomfrey explained to them both while running her scan over Ron and his damaged leg. 

"Now Mr Weasley can you continue explaining what happened?" Minerva asked.

"Well after Lockhart's spell backfired, it caused the ceiling to collapse separating Harry and I. According to Ginny she woke up with Harry sitting next to her, with the body of a bloody big snake behind him." Ron explained.

"Language, Mr Weasley. Please continue." Minerva scolded.

"Well that's about as much as I know, Ginny said Harry sent her ahead so Fawkes could get us to Madam Pomfrey as soon as possible, you'll have to ask Harry for more details when he gets here." Ron finished.

"Understandable, I will let the rest of the students and staff now they can stop worrying. Poppy if you will keep Mr Potter here when he arrives, I will return to hear the rest of this story. I will send for someone for Gilderoy as soon as I can." Minerva stated.

"Of course, I will let you know if anything comes up. " Pomfrey replied. "Now Mr Weasley a potion and a dosage of Skele-Gro and you should be good as new." Pomfrey continued.

"But skele-gro ...." Ron started as Minerva left the medical wing to deliver the good news to the staff and students. 

'Harry Potter strikes again, I never know if I should hug him and award house points, or strangle him and issue detentions, but he always seem to come out on top somehow. I hope I never see the day his luck runs out.' Minerva thought to herself, not know that that day was upon her.

 

...


	5. Chapter 5

[White Light Chamber] Picking up where we left off.

 

...

"I'm sorry for making you retell that it could not have been easy" Harry apologised.

'Surprisingly, it wasn't. I like talking about Emrys, it's just still hard, even after all this time to think he is gone.' Chimedis states. 'Now to your other question, when Emrys died he would have been 483 years old.' Chimedis answered.

"483! I know wizards live longer than normal, but with the exception of Nicolas Flamel, I have never heard of anyone living that long, and he had the Sorcerer's stone to aid him." Harry explained.

'Ah yes, I have heard of Nicolas Flamel, it is a shame he was not around during Emrys time they would have gotten along wonderfully. As for Emrys his life was tied to mine, similarly as Dumbledore's was to Fawkes, or as yours is to her now. As such his ageing slowed down when I was his familiar, and eventually stopped progressing once we bonded.' Chimedis answered.

"Does that mean I am going to be 12 forever?" Harry asked scared of the answer.

Another phoenix trill answered him back, 'No Harry you will not be 12 forever, your ageing will not slow or even stop until you have reached adulthood and stopped growing. However I should mention, if you have not noticed you are no longer twelve.' Chimedis answered.

"What ?" Harry jumping up from his chair, and really looking himself over. 'Yes I am in better shape than I can ever remember being in, I can see without my glasses, and I have this bloody large phoenix tattoo in the middle of my chest, but I don't look older. I wonder if there is a mirror where I can see myself better' Harry thought as a full length mirror appears in front of him. "Thanks" Harry states to no one in particular. Looking himself over closely, he raises the hair from his forehead and realizes the lightning bolt scar on his forehead is now faded to a white line instead of the raised red scar it has always been. 'The scar is fading, I wonder why? Wait a minute, I was never this tall, how old am I?' Harry thought to himself, as he turned to asked Chimedis, Chimedis answered for him.

'You have aged approximately one year, so you would say you are thirteen and half. You will be fourteen on your upcoming birthday instead of thirteen. The changes to your height, weight, eyesight, and general physique is due to your form containing phoenix tears and phoenix energy running through your system during your regeneration. These additional elements caused you body to take on the optimal form that your age would allow. Unfortunately the regeneration sped up your body's ageing cycle and burned up one year of life in the process. For a phoenix this would not matter as that year would be used as the regeneration is a normal step in our life cycle, but for you it was an extreme shock to your system hence you waking up feeling out of place.' Chimedis explained.

"Ok so I traded one year of life for being alive and healthy to live the years I wasn't going to have, not a bad trade I guess. but what about the tattoo, or burned image of Fawkes as the other phoenix described it, what does it do?" Harry asked still worried as no one seemed to be able to tell him what it was.

'That is harder to explain. When I bonded with Emrys he did not have the image, and from what was explained to me you have the other half of the image on your back as well, making it significant, but an unknown variable in this situation. I know you are not going to like this, but we are going to have to wait for my granddaughter to wake up and help us figure it out.' Chimedis calmly explained.

"Granddaughter? Who is your granddaughter?" Harry asked quickly before things clicked together in his head. "Fawkes, Fawkes is your granddaughter!?"

'Very good, I see you are starting to think things through, this will help. Yes she is my granddaughter, or great-great-granddaughter is the way your humans see things. As I mentioned earlier, the fascination with man seems to have been passed down the generations of my family, and Fawkes or Floran, which is her given name seems to have got the largest part of it of all of her siblings. This led her to become Dumbledore's familiar and eventual captive, in a way I should thank you for coming along, only by finding someone she thought was worth of becoming a companion, was she able to break the familiar bond with Dumbledore. Now as you know my connection to my granddaughter, you will treat her right, no forcing her to do things she does not want to do, and you will listen to her opinions not just give her orders, like Dumbledore. Each phoenix can only have one companion in their lifetime, so please make sure she has some fun if you can.' Chimedis explained.

"Fawkes.. Floran chose me as her one shot at a companion? Why me, at the rate I am going I will be dead before I graduate from Hogwarts. Every year I seem to get into another life threatening adventure. I can't promise how long I will be around, but I will try to make sure Faw.... I mean Floran is taken care of properly." Harry answered.

'As soon as she is up and around, probably by tomorrow, we can see what changes this bond has produced. Until then, let us take a walk' Chimedis states as he hopes on Harry's shoulder 'The council chamber has got to be the dullest place here, and they always choice it as the reception area for guests, I have no idea why.' Chimedis stated amusingly, and Harry walk out the door way on the left of the columns.

 

[Hogwarts, Medical Wing, Friday Morning, the morning after the Chamber of Secrets Incident]

 

Ginny was waking up as Madam Pomfrey was running a scan over Ron while he slept. Looking around seeing the petrified student, but not seeing Harry, Ginny felt a chill run through her, colder than anything she had ever felt.

"M..Mad..Madam Pomfrey where is Harry? Ginny asked hoping her feeling was wrong, when Madam Pomfrey turned around to answer and had tears in her eyes, Ginny knew her feeling was right.

"Mr Potter ..." was all Pomfrey got out before Ginny lost it.

"NO !!! NO !!! He isn't gone, Fawkes was going to go down and bring him right up, he told me he would follow up right away. HE CAN'T BE GONE!! HE JUST CAN'T! YOUR WRONG, he can't be, can't be ...." Ginny screamed as she cried, waking Ron in the process.

"WHAT! What's wrong Ginny" Ron called out as he attempted to get out of bed to get to his sister. As the same time Fred, George and even Percy ran into the medical wing and quickly ran to their sister, as Madam Pomfrey tried to keep Ron from doing more damage to his leg by restraining him.

"Ginny, we're here, just calm down, we will get through this together, " Fred called out as George finished with "Mom and Dad are on the way, and should be here anytime"

Ginny looking up to her brothers faces, pleading someone to tell them what she already knew was wrong, "Please, it can't be..." as she launched herself at Fred as he nodded "... no your wrong, he was fine when I left, he told me, he said he would follow up shortly..." punching Fred multiple times as Fred just let her as tears ran down his face.

"Who can't be what? Harry do you know what she is talking about" quickly looking for Harry and not finding anything, "Harry !? Where's Harry?" as the situation finally sinks in, "NO! Come on, where is Harry, this is not the time for one of your pranks guys, Percy you'll tell me right, now where's Harry?" Ron screamed

Percy looked at his brother with a seriousness Ron could never remember, even during the time Percy was in Percy Prefect mode, "Harry didn't make it... The sorting hat explained it to the entire school last night, it seems the Basilisk fang must has got him long enough to inject the venom, the fact that he lived long enough to tell Ginny to leave is incredible..." Percy exclaimed.

"No, Fawkes healed Harry I saw it, she cried into his wounds and then closed over, and Harry was alright. He said he would follow us, he has to be alright, please tell me he is alright..." cried Ginny hysterically into Fred, as Madam Pomfrey brings over a tray of calming draughts. 

"Miss Weasley, take this it will help with your nerves. I have one for any of you who would like one, I think I am going to need to order more of these in from St Mungo's. “Pomfrey offers. Ginny, Fred, George, Ron and even Percy takes her up on the offer, knowing this is only the beginning of a terrible day.

"Thank you Madam Pomfrey" Percy answers for everyone, looking back at Ron and Ginny "the hat explained that Harry must have known what was happening when he sent you on your way Ginny, he knew if you stayed you would have to see him die and wanted to spare you seeing it. If Phoenix tears could not stop the venom, there really was nothing that could have been done in time. “Percy continued.

The Weasley family sat there each of them thinking of loss of the Raven haired boy who some saw as friend, some as hero, some as trouble maker, some as saviour, but they all thought of a sort of a brother. Tears ran down their faces as the medical wing doors opened issuing in Molly and Arthur Weasley as well as Madam Sprout. Molly and Arthur gathered around their children sensing their children needed them. Ginny quickly latches on to Arthur, "Dad he can't be gone, I never got to thank him, he said he was going to be right behind us, please tell me everyone if wrong, that Harry is alright" Ginny asks with hope that her father can make this all right.

Looking at his daughter as his heart breaks a little more with having to confirm what she doesn't want to hear, "I'm sorry, it's true. It has been all over the papers, the wireless and all over the Ministry, Harry didn't make it out of the Chamber" Arthur states as Ginny breaks down in his arms again, crying herself to sleep eventually as the rest of the Wesley family helps each other cope with their grief.

Meanwhile, Madam Sprout is talking to Poppy, "It's this way all over the school, and the great hall was swamped with owls this morning delivering the Prophet and letters from home asking for confirmation. Parents have been arriving all day, the Minister, the head of the DMLE, several aurors have already arrived to help maintain order. The school board is trying to reach Albus and plan to be here over the weekend to determine if the school should stay open and get to the bottom of things. I came to tell you the Mandrake have been harvested and Professor Snape is working on the cure for your patients as we speak... By the way Poppy, you might want to be available Sunday evening, the sorting hat has made a condition to showing the Minister the memory of Harry's death, it will only show it in the Great Hall in front of the entire school, school board, Minister and press, it says it does not want there to be any doubt on what happened, and does not want anyone trying to blame Mr Potter for anything that occurred. “Sprout concluded.

"Damn right!" Ron exclaimed. "Knowing the way things had been going for Harry, the hat is probably right." ended Ron before calming down again as the effect of the calming draught reasserted itself.

Looking at Madam Sprout, "I'll be there, I owe it to the students to be there to help pass out calming draughts, but I doubt they will be enough. I pity Miss Granger I know her and Mr Weasley have been friends with Mr Potter since first year, and if Professor Snape finishes in time, she will have to go from be petrified to finding out Mr Potter is dead on the same day." Poppy said sadly.

"True. Unfortunately she will want to know the truth and see it with her own eyes before she believes it" Sprout comments, looking toward Ginny, "and I think she isn't the only one...” Sprout finishes before leaving as quietly as she can.

 

[White Walled Bedroom]

 

Harry Potter wakes from his night sleep. 'I don't remember going to bed' Harry thinks, I remember talking to Chimedis while we walked though the surrounding forest. I remember going back to the council chamber and another phoenix telling us Fawkes, I mean Floran would be available tomorrow, and saying I was tired, and then waking up... I hope Floran can give me some answers today, every time I ask a question, the answer caused five more questions, I'm going crazy' Harry thought to himself.

Standing up Harry grabs the robes sitting next to his bed, and get's dressed, and then heads out the only door.

 

[White Light Chamber]

Harry walks through the door from his room and right back into the council chamber. Chimedis and Floran are sitting on the back of the chair with their foreheads touching.

"Fawkes ! .. I mean Floran you are alright." Harry exclaims while he corrects himself.

Floran breaks contact with Chimedis and launches herself into the air, landing smoothly on Harry's shoulder, giving a warm trill in the process, while Chimedis flames away.

'Harry, I am glad you are alright. I was not sure if I had reached you in time or if it was going to work.' Floran exclaimed excitingly, while bumping Harry with her head just like Hedwig does when she wants attention.

"Yes I am fine, thanks to you." Harry replies, reaching up and stroking Floran's head, ".. but we need to talk, everyone seems to think you have the answers..." Harry continued.

'I will try. As my grandfather mentioned this has not been done since his bond with Merlin. Ask your questions, you will know I am answering them truthfully as we cannot lie to one another' Floran explained.

"OK... First question would be why me? What made me so special that you thought I was worthy of... well you" Harry asked awkwardly, 'That sound so much better before I said it' Harry thought to himself.

Immediately as warm filling laughter filled Harry's head, 'I agree it sound better when you thought it than when you said it. This form of communication is so much better already that what I had with Albus, I can't wait to get to know you better. Now to answer your question, why not you. You have the best characteristics of all four of the houses of Hogwarts, which means you have the best aspects of man in general. You look out for others, even more so than for yourself, which is rare in any human. You try your best to do what is right, not what is easy, another trait that is lost on most. You value friendship and trust it more than power and money, which in the magical world is almost unheard of. You would rather not show how intelligent you really are, than make your friends feel inadequate. You have the courage of Godric, but the heart of Helga, the brains and wit of Rowena and the cunning of Salazar, but the power of Merlin himself could never turn you from the light. All this while dealing with the abuse from home, the manipulations of Albus, the hatred from Snape, and the unwanted attention of the wizarding world. All of this made you a worthy companion, but the final point was what you did for Miss Weasley. You knew, just as I did, when the stab wound did not heal completely that I was too late to stop the venom from killing you, but you hide your pain and suffering long enough to send Miss Weasley and I back to her brother so she would not see you die, proving everything I had already known about you..' Floran explained to a blushing Harry.

"I am none of those things. I just do what I can. Yes I did not want Ginny to see me die, and I knew Ron was waiting so I lied, but I don't think you are right about the rest" Harry stated honestly.

'You see, I know you honestly think that, as I said we cannot lie to one another, which means I believe everything I said to you. We are just going to have to agree to disagree on this, until you see I am right. " Floran states with a slight bit of cheek in her voice. 

"Fine... Wait a minute did you just make fun of me?" Harry asked unbelievingly.

'Maybe... Grandfather always said I inherited his wit more than the rest, just your luck you ended up with me.' Floran answered back.

Slightly laughing at himself, 'Yah I guess, I could of done a lot worse..... Now my next question is what is this burn image tattoo all about ?' not realising he never spoke the direct question for the first time since he arrived.

'Could you show it to me, I have not see it yet?' Floran asked while hoping down from Harry's shoulder. Harry stands up remove his robe, embarrassingly leaving himself in just a pair of boxers. Blushing slightly as he hears Floran's response, ' I see what mother meant by you having been optimised during the regeneration. As for the image, this is going to take awhile to explain, take a seat...' Floran states as she waits for Harry to take a seat.

...

[Gringotts, Chief Ragnok's Office, Saturday Morning]

Ragnok is sitting at his desk behind multiple stacks of paperwork, looking pissed off, which on a goblin is not easy. On the floor next to his desk is the decapitated body and head of another goblin. Just then a knock on his door is heard.

"Enter" Ragnok states the anger still in his voice as two heavily armed goblins come in. Looking up at the goblins who seem to be waiting for a command, "Yes, please take way what use to be account manager, Tightpurse, his assets are to be seized and his family members moved down to the lower levels." Ragnok commands, as the two goblins pick up the remains of the fallen goblin. "Send me Griphook on your way out, I need someone I can trust to help me fix this mess before Lord Potter is made aware of what has occurred" Ragnok bellowed.

'Just what I need, a goblin conspiring with wizards, to rob one of our oldest clients, and a child no less' Ragnok thought, 'This is going to cost a number of wizards quite a bit', smiling to himself, 'and I know just who the first victim should be to cause the most damage'. A knock on his door breaks him from his thought. "Enter"

Griphook enters the office. "You wanted to see me sir" Griphook asks worried why he was called to the Directors office.

"Griphook, you have been wanting a chance to prove yourself and move up a level to account manager, correct?" Ragnok questioned.

"Yes sir" Griphook answered quickly.

"Good then I have a problem you can help with, and if you succeed, you not only will more up, but will take over one of our oldest clients accounts" Ragnok states.

"What problem can I help you with Director, and which account are we talking about, if I may be so bold to ask" Griphook replied.

Ragnok smiling at his employee, "The answer to both of your questions is the Potter accounts, and it seems Tightpurse, has been making deals with several wizards to steal from at least one of the Potter vaults for the past several years."

"I will help in any way I can Director, but aren't the Potter accounts now closed, with the death of Mr Potter" Griphook questioned.

Again Ragnok smiles. "That would be the case if Mr Potter had stayed dead, but as the register show him as the active account holder, and more importantly lists him as Lord Harry Potter, I think things are going to get interesting very soon, and I want this matter solved, so we have answers when he arrives."

Astonished by what he just heard, Griphook approaches the Directors desk and states, "Then we do not have a moment to lose. Where are you at in the accounts, and where should I start." as Griphook digs into the pile as Ragnok points it out.

...


	6. Chapter 6

[White Light Chamber]

 

'Alright, first off everything I tell you about the image is at best a guess...' Floran stated

"A guess! You don't know, the way everyone was talking you had the answers!" Harry exclaimed loudly. Noticing Floran hopping on to the back of the chair and putting her head down, Harry knew he screwed up. "..I'm sorry Fawkes, err I mean Floran, you seem to know me so you know my temper sometimes get the better of me... I will try to stay calm and hear you out... Are you ok and can you please explain the guessing part to me" Harry stated as calmly as he could, not exactly understanding how his mood calmed down so quickly, usually he would have been ranting for a while before realising he was out of control.

Floran looking back at Harry with an understanding expression on her face, '.. I'm fine Harry, I did not mean to upset you, and I understand your frustration as the others let me know they kept putting off answering you until I had recovered. Now as I say everything is at best a guess, because this has only been done one time before and it did not leave a image like our bond did....' letting Harry have a minute to process that answer Floran continues '.. we have compared the two bondings and have come up with three major differences that can explain the image. First when grandfather joined with Merlin, Merlin was only injured and needed help. In our situation your body had already died and I was trying to save you before your soul departed, this required considerably more power to accomplish. In addition, I saved you be enveloping you in my regeneration energy as I die and was reborn, it was the only thing I could think of, the image is exactly where I landed on you as the process reached its highest energy release. The second difference is Merlin was a fully grown adult when he bonded with grandfather, where you have yet to reach your majority. The last major difference which the council seems to think is significant is that I am a female phoenix and you are male, where as grandfather and Merlin where both males, their bonding created a bond of brotherhood, ours is creating a bond of true companionship. Unfortunately these difference seems to have already made a number of unexpected changes.'

'What type of unexpected changes?' Harry inquired, again not realising he was not speaking as he was paying extreme attention to what Floran was saying.

'Well first off the phoenix image on your front and back, then there is ... as mother said, your optimisation during regeneration, grandfather said Merlin looked about the same after the bonding where you have changed quite a bit... your telepathic ability is quite strong and getting stronger, Merlin could only talk to grandfather, where you seem to be able to communicate with all of the council, in addition several times you have initiated the conversation without speaking, even if you were not aware of it..' Floran pauses as Harry thinks this information over.

'Did I? I don't remember.. Let see can I do it on purpose... Chimedis are you available for a couple of questions?' Harry called out mentally. Quickly Chimedis flames in.

'You did not have to yell Harry, just thinking at me would have been enough...' Chimedis stated with a humorous tone 'What questions do you have?' Chimedis finished.

'He is right Floran, you received his wit.' Harry thought with his own humorous tone. ' Chimedis can you tell us what changes Merlin underwent due to your bonding, while Floran has explained each bonding seems to be different, it might give us a place to start?' Harry continued.

Chimedis looking at Harry with a inquisitive look, '..well Emrys did not change much after our bonding, his ageing seemed to slow down, and he mentioned that many old aches and pains stopped hurting. As we discussed earlier he acquired an almost phoenixes like ability to exude a sense of tranquillity and peace that other species found inviting, and his lifespan was extended several time what he normally would have had. I would guess his most startling change, was no longer being able to use a wand, and it took him quite some time to adjust to that.' Chimedis answered.

'No wand!? Why?' Harry asked quickly

'Well Harry here is a couple questions. In all of your history of Emrys have you ever heard of his wand? What does a wand do for a wizard? ' Chimedis fired back.

Thinking about every picture or story he could remember, which was quite a number of them, which surprised Harry because he didn't think he was paying that much attention to them, he could never remember any of them showing a wand, most of them had his staff, but not a wand. 'No I don't remember any wand, I remember pictures of him with his staff though.... Oh' and a wand helps direct magic as a focus for the wizard.' Harry answered.

'And what is the focus of your wand?' Chimedis asked.

'One of Fawkes tail feathers, I mean Floran's tail feathers. I have got to get that name change right, sorry Floran.' Harry thought.

'It is alright Harry, you knew me as Fawkes, it will take time. Why Albus gave me a name that sounds more masculine than feminine I will never know. I even caught him referring to me as he several times, which I tried to correct him of, but never seemed to manage.' Floran answered.

Waiting on Floran to finish Chimedis started again '.. If I may continue with my explanation. Now if your focus is a phoenix tail feather, and you have bonded with the same phoenix, and now share a part of the phoenix within yourself, how do you think this would affect your use of a wand' Chimedis asked trying to get Harry to think it through.

Harry doing just that for a minute answered back '..It would be like casting through two focuses... Which I would guess cause problems as a wand is made to take raw energy and focus it, instead of handling already focused magic.'

'Very good, that thing between your ears does seem to work. Now back to your original question, another thing I believe you will have in common with Emrys, is that your mental capacities are growing. The way you are processing the information has already changed from the first day you arrived, I can see and hear it. It was the same with Emrys. Do you remember my comment about him not being too bright when we first met, that changed drastically in the months that followed our bonding. I can only ascertain your ability will be more pronounced due to the level of your bonding and the optimisation that occurred during your regeneration. We will need to make sure to examine this further during your retraining.' Chimedis stated calmly.

'Retraining? and what differences have you noticed ?' Harry asked.

'Well let us take the differences first. While you still are working on your anger management, you are noticing the outbursts faster, and adjusting accordingly. You are no longer getting overwhelmed with the information you are being given, your questions are staying on topic instead of running all over them place. Your mind has already comprehended the use of your telepathic abilities, as you have not once uttered a word during our conversation. Finally as you are starting to notice when I asked you about what you knew of Emrys wand, your ability to recall information you had already heard, process information you are learning and formulate questions and answers based on that information has increased dramatically. As for retraining... you are going to need to retrain on how to use magic without a wand, you are also going to have to learn to use your other abilities and handle the unbound nature of your newly formed magic core, instead of using the limited access of the original cores.' Chimedis answered back.

'.... original cores? How many cores?' Harry asked.

'Yes cores, it seems that you had two magical cores, while your original core was quite strong, having it bound so heavily caused it to gain in strength considerably, since you were having to do more with less access, in addition you had a fragment of the soul of the one you refer to as Voldemort living inside that scar on your forehead...' Chimedis paused here as Harry's had quickly reached up and touched where the scar was on his forehead, '.. don't worry it died when your body stopped functioning, but when you started to use Parseltongue, and when Voldemort caused you pain through the scar, your body used the extra energy from the fragment to form a supplemental core, this is why you seemed to have more energy recently when casting spells.. In addition to that when my granddaughter bonded with you, a piece of her own magic core was transferred to you to allow you to survive and benefit from the regeneration cycle. This additional core caused all three cores to merge and helped safely release the blocks on your original core forming a new vastly more powerful core. If that was not enough, you have to consider that the optimisation to your core during your regeneration strengthened it again. I would estimate your core is three, maybe four times larger than any other magic core ever housed in any human on Earth. Furthermore due to the extreme conditions of your regeneration, including having three cores, phoenix tears, basilisk venom, as well as a part of a phoenix in your system at the time, I would wager the structure of your core is two to three times stronger than any other as well... With all these factors in place, I would surmise your magic will act quite a bit differently than you remember and have more power than you can imagine' Chimedis answered. 

Harry simply stared into space as his mind was again trying to comprehend everything he was being told, as Chimedis had pointed out his mind was able to understand what he was being told, but the core of who Harry was just could not fathom what he was hearing. '... uh yeah ... sure .. nothing to worry about ... let's put it in order, I fought an early version of Voldemort, beat him, fought a huge snake, beat it, got poisoned, died, was brought back, optimised, which I still don't fully understand but it seems real important as it is mentioned as an answer to everything I ask, I am bound to a phoenix, which I understand a little... actually, probably a lot less than a little... I now can no longer use a wand due to having a piece of a phoenix inside me ... another thing I don't know enough about ... I had a piece of Voldemort living inside my head for the past twelve years and no one decided to mention it to me ... I now have a magic core larger and stronger than anyone has ever had before, and I have to relearn magic so I can use it while trying to come to grips with every and anything else that might have changed about me, oh and I have a bloody large phoenix burned into my front and back.... so nothing's really changed, I'm still fate's bitch.' Harry thought to himself, not realising he was broadcasting. 'So anything else I need to consider' Harry asks, hoping that was all, but knowing he was not that lucky.

'... Well, there might be a couple other items that might happen, but I think I will wait until later or even tomorrow to bring them up.' answered a worried sounding Floran

Changing to look back at Floran, feeling a little bad having spent so much time focused on Chimedis, 'No. Please let's get the possibilities out on the table now so we can see the whole picture. I would rather know than find out later.' Harry asked feeling more tired than he could remember since he go here.

'.. these are only guesses as I mentioned earlier, however we believe you may inherit one or more phoenix abilities. such as the ability to give off the phoenix allure of tranquillity that Merlin was able to use, you might be able to flash transport like a phoenix, you might be able to take the form of a phoenix, much like Professor McGonagall can change into a cat, you may gain the ability to read emotions, healing tears, seeing magic or there is even the remote chance you could gain a phoenix's .... ' Floran hesitated as Harry already seemed to be ready to pass out.

'.. a phoenix's what? ' Harry asked sort of not want to know the answer, but having to know why she stopped.

'... ah, well a phoenix's immortality.' Floran stated hoping for the best.

'... immortality ... right okay. Hmmm.. ' while thinking this Harry stands up and heads toward the door which leads to his bedroom, he turns back toward the two phoenixes, '.. I think I am going to lay down and think this over ... ' Harry states as a matter of fact and starts walking out of the room. 'More like pass out' Harry thought to himself as he left.

..

'Well he seems to be handling the changes better than I thought..' Floran says to her grandfather.

'Yes, but you have yet to explain to him the fact that the reason you think he will have a phoenix form, is that you now have a human form. You have told him nothing of the fact that he will need to bond with others to be able to handle his own unlocked natural abilities, or that most likely you will be one of his bonded. By the way, you have to let me be in the room when that conversation is held, it should be quite humorous.' Chimedis stated while nearly laughing at the end.

' I could always have you tell him that, and I could just hide. You would do that for me wouldn't you grandfather.' Floran stated with the most pleading look she could muster, sometime she wished she could take the form of a dog so she could use the "puppy dog" eyes on him.

Laughing through the link, ' Oh no. You knew the range of emotions and complications I went through with Emrys when he died, and you chose to bond with him, you are going to have to explain it to him... By the way, you know this insecurity you are feeling about talking to him is another of the things you received from the bonding don't you?' Chimedis asked concerned for his granddaughter.

'Yes mother said I seemed different when we spoke. I know it is my responsibility , but I never figured I would ever have to have that conversation with a human. I just hope he does not hate me for it in the end.' Floran thought filled with worry.

'I don't think you have to worry, I really don't think he has it in him to hate you. You have chosen well, your mother and I both agree. However, you will have to explain to him that he will still have to convince your father he is good enough for you when the time comes to elevate your bond to the final stage.' Chimedis laughed one more time before flaming out.

'Sure, I can see that conversation. Harry you need to convince my father that we belong together, that I need to leave and go back with you forever, and oh did I forget to mention my father is the leader of the council.. no problems there.' Floran thought to herself before flaming out of the council chambers.

...


	7. Chapter 7

[Training Field]

Harry is standing looking at a row of columns approximately 2 meters high each with a different item sitting on top. Floran and Chimedis are sitting on two additional columns to his right.

'Now as we discussed you will need to retrain to use you magic, Floran and I will help you as much as we can, but you will need to do most of this yourself.' Chimedis stated

'Chimedis how long is this retraining going to take? How long did it take Merlin to do it?' Harry asked.

'Emrys fought the fact he could not use a wand any longer for some time, if I remember he blew up eleven wands and even three staves while trying to find something that work, he simply could not find a compatible focus. It was after about three months of failed attempts that he theorised the conflicting focus idea. His solution was creating a staff that simply allowed his magic to pass through it while giving the appearance of being a magic staff. You have to understand even the concept of needing a staff to channel magic was rare, the idea of someone being able to wield magic without any type of focus was unheard of. Even today wandless magic is extremely rare and limited to the scope of lower levels spells. Once he figured out he could not use a standard focus and started to retrain, I believe it took him about three to four months to get the hand of it, with you, I would expect it to take about a year as you not only need to learn to do magic, you need to learn to adjust to your larger core, and new abilities as well.' Chimedis explained.

"A year! I can't stay he for a year, my friends have most likely been told I died, which granted I did, but they don't know I am still alive, or again, or whatever. I have to let them know, plus I will need to go back to school to learn in September, I don't know that much magic I am only a second year. " Harry cried out in response, actually yelling it instead of thinking it, while thinking 'Just once I would like to be asked something, or explain something before it is assumed I would just agree to it. I mean this place is a hell lot nicer than the Dursley's but spending a year away from my friends is a bit much, I will go stir crazy.' while pacing in front of the two phoenixes waving his hands to vent his frustration as his yelled.

'.. Well you will need the time to learn control of your abilities, if you went back now and lost control like just now, you could have killed someone.' Chimedis stated.

'What do you mean lost control, I am sorry I yelled but losing your temper doesn't usually kill anyone, does it? ' Harry asked.

'You tell me, look behind you' Chimedis stated calmly.

As Harry turns around to look at the columns, he discovers the columns were not rubble and the items have been mostly destroyed. Turning back in shock to the phoenixes, Harry asked a little scared of the answer 'I caused all that?' 

'Yes you did, you really need to work on your emotional control, otherwise your power will get away from you and cause damage like that. Can you imagine if you were caught off guard when you returned to Hogwarts and you lashed out without thinking, what you could do to your friends and other students?' Chimedis questioned in a calm but directed point of tone.

Still looking scared at what he had done, and thinking of what that would have done to his friend, Harry answers back, 'Ok, I understand I need to get this under control, but how can I spend a year here? No offence, but all I have seen is the council chamber, and my bedroom, everything else is forest and outdoors, which is great if you're a phoenix, but I did not see a school or even a library where I can learn magic at. And again, I want to contact my friends so they know I am alright.'

'Harry, calm down and let us explain, not everything is as it seems.' Floran states in a tone to help calm Harry down.

Trying to calm down, '... Ok explain it to me, maybe I should sit down first, this sounds like it is going to be another long explanation.' , looking around and not see a chair, 'if I could get a chair it would help', and suddenly another of the large comfy chairs from the council room appears and Harry goes to sit down, as he hears a chirp of surprise from the phoenixes, 'what is it?' Harry asks.

'..Umm Harry where did you get that chair from?' Floran answers back.

'I don't know, figured it came from the council. Earlier when we were in the council chamber Sorlan said to take a seat and then a chair like this appeared so I had a place to sit, just like my robes when I first woke up, why?' Harry asked questioningly.

'Harry the council chamber is on the other side of the complex, and while they may have provided the original chair, they did not make that one..' Chimedis stated hesitantly.

'Well then did you make the chair Chimedis?' Harry asked.

'No Harry, matter transfiguration is not something I can do, as a matter of fact it usually takes most of the council working together to transfigure something, I believe you brought forth the chair when you asked for it. As for you robes, did they appear or did you ask for them?' Chimedis asked

'When I sort of complained about where my clothes were and they appeared, I thought someone simply supplied them. How could I transfigure them, I have not got into that stage in class yet?' Harry asked shocked to think he made the chair or even his clothes.

'I'm thinking your powers may have evolved further than we thought. Do me a favour, look over at the target columns and ask for them to be reset to the way they were or be replaced with new ones. Make sure to think about what you want clearly.' Chimedis stated

'Ok I will try' Harry thought looking over at the broken rubble, 'I would like the targets to reset' looking a the rubble, but nothing happened. Looking back at the rubble 'I want them to be back the way they were' again nothing happened. Looking back at Chimedis, 'It doesn't seem to work, are you sure I made the chair?' Harry asked.

'Yes, there is no one else. What were you focusing on when you made the chair, maybe it is intent and not focus' Chimedis asked.

'Just that I needed a place to sit down, I really didn't focus on anything' Harry answered back.

'So maybe it you thought about needing the columns fixed so you could train, instead of what you want them to look like' Floran chimed in.

'I guess maybe if I just thought that I needed new targets so I could train, instead ..' Harry stopped as he heard a rumbling sound behind him, he turned quickly in shock as he watch the rubble rearranging itself back into the flawless column stands including new looking targets.

'Yes, I believe that might work..' Chimedis said with a bit if laughter in his voice.

Turning back around to face the phoenixes, 'Ok so I did make the chair.... That is going to take some time to get use to.... What else did you need to explain Floran...' Harry asked hoping to get something else to focus his mind on than what he had just discovered he could do.

'..Right, okay let me explain how this realm works..' Floran started

'Realm?' Harry chimed in startled again by a new discovery.

'Yes, phoenixes live a separate realm from humans, only interacting when we wish it. Right now your spirit or soul is here while your body is completing your regeneration in the chamber. The regeneration cycle takes approximately 24 hours to complete. If you were still inside your body during this processes you would be in extreme pain. You have to understand your body after the cycle started was about half the size of a normal infant, and over the next 24 hours you body has to gown into your current size, that kind of growth would be painful. Whenever a phoenix goes through a cycle their spirit comes here to process everything that happened since their previous cycle or to recover if they were killed and a forced regeneration cycle occurs.' Floran explained.

'... But if I am separated from my body, wouldn't it not just die, without a soul.' Harry asked.

'No Harry, you are still connected to your body, as it is growing into the form you currently see, and if your body was in a life threatening situation you would be drawn back to it, even though it would be painful. This realm just helps you avoid that pain, and helps you acclimate to your new form. But more importantly time passes at an accelerate rate here. How long do you believe you have been here?' Floran explains.

'..Well let's see my first meeting with the council, I passed out, then the next day after talking to Chimedis I went to bed, then last night, plus I don't know how long I was passed out nude in the middle of the council chamber, so I would guess four days or so, why how long have I been here?' Harry answered.

'Well you are correct, in your timeframe you have been here just over four days, however in your realm you have only been here for about seventeen minutes, and your regeneration cycle has just really gotten started. As I stated earlier time moves faster here, so during the year that grandfather said you would take to retrain, only one day of time will pass at Hogwarts, which at that time your regeneration cycle will be complete. Then you can contact your friends and let them know you are alive.' Floran continued.

'Seventeen minutes.... They might not have even been told yet, could you get a message to everyone that I am alright, I don't want everyone worrying' Harry asked hopefully.

'Unfortunately I cannot, I am also going through my regeneration cycle as well, and am currently the size of a small rat.' Floran answered

'How about you Chimedis could you or could someone from the council go?' Harry asked.

'Again unfortunately no, I can never again return to your realm. When Emrys died my physical shell was damaged to the point that I almost did not make it back here. While I did eventually heal, the transition of our physical bodies from transferring from one realm to another is painful and takes a toll. That is one reason you do not see many phoenixes in your realm. Maybe a handful have made the trip, most being from my line, and those that do, usually stay because of the damage received to transfer back. We still see them during their regeneration cycles but usually once they return physically is too demanding to do it a second time. Currently Floran is the only one of my family still in your realm, and as she said she is currently in her regeneration cycle. As for the council most have already made their one trip into another realm, or do not have a wish to attempt it. As I said a phoenix can only transfer to one realm during their lifetime, and there are many other realms that they can explore, many much more interesting than yours.' Chimedis explained.

Disappointed but understanding the limitation Harry answers back, 'I guess I will have to explain it to them when I get back, I hope they don't hate me for putting them through everything.'

'They might be upset, but I think they will be happier that you are back more than anything else.' Floran states.

'Ok then if I am stuck here for a year or a day, I guess I better use this time to get control of my magic so I don't hurt them when we get back.' Harry states, while coming to grips with his situation. 'Where do we start'

[Gringotts, Ragnok's Office, Saturday Afternoon]

Ragnok and Griphook are still working through stacks of paperwork tracking down all of the activities in the Potter accounts, when there is a knock on the office door. Ragnok looks up with a look of displeasure but press the button to open his doors.

" I stated I was not to be disturbed, this had better be important." Ragnok stated loudly as a smaller goblin enters the office.

"Yes sir Director and I would never interrupt you if it was not important" the smaller goblin stated nervously.

"Well, what is it then" Ragnok stared down the little goblin.

"..Uh well sir, I am here to report the reactivation of vaults on the lowest level, vaults 1 through 4 and 7, sir." the goblin said with a bit of awe in his voice.

"That is not possible, those vaults have been inactive for over a thousand years!" Ragnok exclaimed.

"Yes sir, I understand, but the fact remains they have been reactivated and the accrued interest on the accounts are being added to them as we speak, which is already a staggering amount. In addition, heirlooms that have been removed from the vaults over the past thousand years have started reappearing in the manifests." the little goblin explained.

"Just what I need more unexplained activity. Get Senior Account Manager Hookclaw down here to review those vaults, and report directly back to me." Ragnok commanded.

"Uh.. Sir I can't do that, each of these vaults are labelled Director access only. The only thing we are able to access is the manifests which are connected to the outside of the vault, and they only list interest, and heirlooms, and even those are listed as numbered heirlooms without description, and they can only be removed for inspection by an heir or you Director." the small goblin quickly explained.

"Brilliant. Fine... I will go get the manifests. Griphook keep working on these, I will be back shortly." Ragnok stood up and headed out of his office to find out what it going on.

 

...


	8. Chapter 8

[Phoenix Realm - Nine Months Later / Real World Time Elapsed - 19.5 Hours]

[Training Field]

'Ok, you can do this. You've learned to control yourself, now it is time to push yourself. ... Right no big deal, just concentrated your magic to one point until you reach the bursting point and then channel it into an attack on the mountain side. Just remember to release it before killing yourself. Right NO BIG DEAL AT ALL!' Harry thought to himself as he started to focus his energy. 

This was another in a long run of training exercises that Chimedis had put him through over the past nine months or so. Ever since Harry had achieved control of his energy flow enough to cast all of the spells he knew (not that many, he was only a second year), which was done in the first three months, Chimedis had taken to pushing Harry harder through increasingly more difficult tests. Apparently enjoying tormenting Harry until he got them perfect. The latest test, or torture, was to attack a mountain range to see how much damage Harry could do if he went all out. Of course, Harry had yet to make a dent in the Mountain as it was almost a kilometre away, and Chimedis was simply using this test as a focus to give Harry something to do for the next three months until he returned home. Actually Chimedis was running out of things to test him with until he returned to his physical body. He had explained several tests as well as several routines Harry should attempt or continue once he returned, but actually testing certain abilities here were either impossible or extremely dangerous.

'Are you ready yet Harry, some of us are not getting any younger' Chimedis sent to Harry.

'I getting there, and since you are a phoenix and regenerate every so often, you really aren't getting any older either now are you' Harry sent back with a humorous tone.

' I am supposed to tell you that Floran has some important information to go over with you this evening when you are done, and if you are late you can deal with her moods.' Chimedis explained. Actually Chimedis was upset with his granddaughter, 'Nine months and she still has not told him about her human form, nine months and she had yet to explain to Harry her connection to Sorlan, or the bondings Harry would need to control his new abilities once he returned to his realm. Nine months and not one explanation of the wives he will need to take once his new and old heritages are explained to him. He planned to be there this evening because even with Harry's new control over his emotions this should be quite interesting, now if only Harry would make the attempt so this evening entertainment could start.' Chimedis thought impatiently to himself.

'Alright I'm almost there' Harry thought to himself, feeling the enormous power build-up, he was determined to do it this time, he was getting tired of Chimedis' laughter after each failed attempt. 'Even if I don't damage the whole hillside, I want to prove I can at least damage one spot. I think that's where I have been failing I was trying to do too large an area, so if I focus on one point and one point only, I should be able to reach it finally and at least do something' Harry continued to focus

'Now your stalling, give it your best shot, or just give up for the day, I'm bored already.' Chimedis states egged Harry on.

'I wish he shut up, I'm getting pissed off now, and it's hard to keep focus on this build-up when I get upset.... Wait emotions, if I channel my anger and frustration into the energy discharge it might give it the extra push I need.' Harry doubling his effort and pushing all his frustration and dislike at failure into it, and then adding the anger at everything that had happened in his life up to then into one final push, reaching the feeling that he was about to explode Harry reaches out one hand and releases the energy with the single thought of destruction.

'Alright you explain to Floran.... ' Chimedis states as he sees a focused beam of pure red energy being released from Harrys outstretched hand, racing toward the mountainside. Flabbergasted at what he was seeing, he doesn't have a chance to say anything before he evidence of an explosion at the closest mountain peak is seen. Quickly looking back at Harry he see the red beam is still coming from Harry's hand. 'Harry you did it, you can stop now!' Chimedis calls out as a rumble makes it though the valley floor and he sees Harry's body move with the tremor, but the red beam still remains. 'Harry you have to stop now!' Chimedis shouts out mentally. A series of flashes occur and Floran, Sorlan, Lairawks and several of the council arrive to investigate the disturbance. 

'What is happening, what is he trying to do?' Floran asks Chimedis

'He was trying to damage the mountainside over there. Which he did! Even though he shouldn't have been able to, but I think he is so focused he is blocking out everything else including our telepathic connection.' Chimedis answers back .

Floran flies over and lands on Harry's shoulder, 'Harry you need to stop before you hurt yourself' she sends to Harry, with no visible reaction, so she butts heads with Harry to snap him out of it. 

'Ouch, what was that for !?' Harry stopping the beam and rubbing his head where Floran has butted into it.

'You were not responding to anything else, and you needed to stop..' Floran answers back.

'But your Grandfather told me to release the build-up I gathered until it was gone, so I was doing just that. Did I reach the mountain this time? How much damage did I do?' Harry asked.

'Yes you hit the mountain, several minutes ago. Why don't we go see how much damage was done.' Chimedis answered back. Flaming out.

Harry just realising the other phoenixes, 'Sorry for any disruption, we will be back in a minute. ' With a nod, Harry flames out, and is then followed by Floran.

'I see he has got flash transport down.' Sorlan states.

'Yes, as well as most of the other abilities he inherited through the bonding.' Lairawks answered back.

'When is she going to talk to him about the other issues, he needs to know and his time with us is nearing its end. He will need time to process everything, and I think Chimedis has run out of busy work for him, if this test is any indication?' Sorlan asks.

'She has it planned for this evening, and you can have your fun with him after that. You know playing the over protective father on a daughter that is over 400 seems a bit extreme. I know you like the boy.' Lairawks answers back

'Yes, but it has taken her over 400 years to consider bringing someone before me, our other children have already started the next phase of their life, but Floran needed to take after her grandfather and adventure into the outer realm. Plus the fact that I like the boy, does not mean I will just give him my daughter, oh no he still needs to convince me.' Sorlan states proudly before flaming away.

'Of course, what was I thinking that you might make something easy after 850 years. ' Lairawks says to herself while chuckling and flames away with the others.

 

[Mountain side]

Harry flames in near Chimedis and Floran quickly follows. Turning toward the hillside where Chimedis is staring at a rip in the mountainside approximately one hundred meters long and fifteen meter high, leaving a cave about forty meters deep.

'Alright, I will admit I am impressed. I will also admit, that I never figured you would succeed at this challenge as it was more of a focusing exercise, than an actual test. The distance alone should have made it impossible, then the thickness and composition of the mountain itself should have avoided any real damage. What did you do differently this time?' Chimedis asked with surprise and awe in his tone.

'I focused everything on one point, instead of trying to blow up the hillside, and then right before I was going to try you bloody well started to piss me off, so I channel my frustration, anger and rage at everything bad that has happened in my life into the magical release. ' waving his hand at the length and shape of the irregular groove he cut into the mountain, 'I guess my focus wavered a little as this is much bigger than the point I was focusing on.' Harry states.

'Well taking in account you were quite a distance away any small motion of your hand would cause a sizeable shift on this side, plus the trembling of the ground and Floran head butting you may have thrown your focus off slightly, see where the far end raises sharply and is more shallow as it flares out, that is where you disconnected your beam.' Chimedis explained.

'That makes sense.... Wait a minute, if you didn't think I could do this, why have you been making fun of me every time I failed ?! ' Harry asked loudly.

'As I said I was getting bored, and if I would not have goaded you on, you would have quit, and neither of us would have know if you could do it or not. Now I believe I will leave you two, as I know you have quite a bit to discuss.' Chimedis stated before flaming out abruptly.

Harry turns to Floran and asks, 'What do we need to discuss, that is like the fourth time he has mentioned it to me this week?' 

'Umm, let's go back to your room this is going to take a while, and I think you might want to sit down for it...' Floran answers back before flaming away.

'Great, more surprise! Just when you think it safe to go back into the water, the powers that be provide sharks.' Harry says to himself before flaming away.

 

[Hogwarts, Sunday morning, Staff meeting room]

Albus, Minerva, Snape, Sprout, Flitwick, Pomfrey, Amelia Bones, Minister Fudge, Lucius Malfoy and a selection of the school board of governors, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Hestia Jones, and Nymphadora Tonks, as well as the other teachers of the schools were all sitting around the large staff table. In addition the sorting hat was in the middle of the table.

"What do you mean you will not show us the memory of what happened?' Albus asked outraged at being denied anything from an instrument of the school.

"I did not say I would not show you the memory, I simply stated I would show it once, and once only. That I would show it this evening in the great hall, with the entire school and with members of the wizarding press in attendance. Over the last several hundred years I have seen the rewriting of history, the bias slant that has seemed to spread across the wizarding world, even you were thrown out of the school due to the views of a select few, or maybe one." the hat explained as it twisted slightly to stare at Lucius Malfoy, Snape and Minister Fudge. "I am delaying the viewing until tonight because Madam Pomfrey and Professor Sprout stated the petrified students would be well enough to attend this evening as the mandrake was harvested yesterday and several of those students were housemates of Mr Potter's and they deserve to see this first hand. " the hat concluded.

"This is ridiculous, just order the hat to surrender the memory and we can watch it now" Lucius Malfoy states with his superior tone.

"Alas that is not possible, the sorting hat was created by the four founders and was given protections against tampering. One of these protections, was free will, the hat cannot be ordered to do anything it does not want too, another was the protection against memory retrieval. Otherwise anyone could see the thoughts of any of the children that have worn the hat over the centuries." Albus explained.

"Excuse us for a moment" Malfoy states while pulling Minister Fudge and the school board members aside for a quick discussion about something and then they return.

"Certainly we can come to a compromise. The school board and I believe we should be able to preview this memory before exposing the students to potentially disturbing images that they might not fully understand, so that we may be better prepared to help them cope." Ministry Fudge states.

Thinking about this for a second, and see as this might get him the memory before considering to allow the students to view it Albus states to the hat in his headmaster voice, "I think that is a reasonable request, wouldn't you agree?"

The hat not impressed looks at him, and then the members of the school board, "It seems that having an education, is no longer a prerequisite to holding the Headmaster position, or the position of Minister for Magic or sitting on the school board. If it was I would be sure that the fact that I just said less than five minutes ago, that I would show the memory once and only once, and in front of the entire able body school, and the wizarding press would have been understood. As this will be showing the death of Mr Potter after he defeated a basilisk, you should have enough information to help prepare to help cope. As I have explained it again, I will take that as an understanding and will talk to you this evening when I confirm the attendance of those required before showing the memory." the hat concluded and then seemed to become inert as it closed itself off to further interrogations.

"Now hear this I am the Minster for Magic, and I order you to show that memory this instant" the Minister bellowed at the inert hat.

"It seems Minister that the hat, has had the last word on the subject I'm afraid." Albus stated calmly, even though he was upset at being denied the choice if this information was going to be shared. It would be impossible to contain the information once the entire student body, press, and the school board reviewed it, and information control was something he preferred being in control of. "Minerva, if you can handle contacting the Daily Prophet about the viewing tonight." Albus reluctantly suggested.

"I will, as well as Mr Lovegood over at the Quibbler, as the hat his ask for the Wizarding Press and not just the Daily Prophet" Minerva answered back, knowing the Daily Prophet would post only what the Minister approved unless it had another paper which would be backed by witnesses, and Minerva was determined to make sure the Mr Potter's last act was reported properly.

"Ah, yes that it did. I would suggest eight o'clock that way dinner will have been concluded as I fear very few people will have the stomach to eat anything afterwards" Albus concluded.

...

[Gringotts, Ragnok's Office, Saturday Late Afternoon]

Griphook was furiously going through the Potter records, recording any bit of information that seemed out of place, he had been at it all afternoon, again wondering exactly what was keeping Director Ragnok, he had left several hours ago to retrieve several manifests from the ancient vaults and had yet to return. As he was thinking this, the doors of the office opened and a cart containing ten large manifest books and several boxes of records were pushed in through the doors by two large goblins and followed by Director Ragnok.

Standing to offer help, "May I help you with that Director" Griphook asked.

"Actually all of these are the manifest from the five vaults that activated this morning and the records on the accrued interest. I had it brought here as according to our records these vaults are now in the control of Lord Potter." Ragnok said flustered by yet another thing he could not explain.

"Lord Potter? Which vaults do these Manifests pertain too? If I may ask?" Griphook looking excited about having accesses to even the records of the ancient vaults. These vaults had been the investments that Gringotts was founded on, the quantities alone should be staggering.

Ragnok gave the two large goblins a nod, and they left closing the door on their way out. Ragnok waved his hand resealing the room before turning to Griphook and answering, "You may. These are the manifests for vaults 1-4 and vault 7, those belonging to Merlin Emrys, Morgana le Fay, Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw and Ignotus Peverell. It would seem that as of Lord Potter's return he has been named heir to all five vaults. While the Potter family was known to be a member of the Gryffindor line, they have never completed the inheritance ritual to prove it, the connection to the Peverell family has only been speculation. The addition of the Emrys, le Fay, and the Ravenclaw vaults is unprecedented and disturbing, as it has no explanation as of yet. Furthermore the reason it took me so long, I was unable to find a record on there ever having been a Lord Ravenclaw before, I went through the archives myself and the Ravenclaw vault has sat inactive since Lady Ravenclaw passed on, no heir has ever been able to claim it, I could not even find a branch of the family tree that Lord Potter could be claiming. Even without this information the fact remains, the vaults have chosen and they are indeed all active. Hopefully we will be able to have a summary of all of this", pointing to the new material he brought, "by the time Lord Potter appears."

"Understood. If you would open the manifest so I can start the summary, I can show you the material I discovered during your absence, and we can continue to work on both without much loss of time." Griphook explained.

"Very good, show me what you have and then we can get to work on the rest." Ragnok moved to review Griphook's work.

...

[Harry's Chambers]

Harry and Floran flame in and Harry sits down and turns to Floran. Unnoticed by either of them Chimedis is sitting in the upper corner of the room, invisible to the pair below.

'Let me think of where to start.... Do you remember that we mentioned you will probably have a animagus form of a phoenix when we return?' Floran nervously asked.

'Sure, it was another of the abilities I gained during our companion bonding. I want to get started on that as soon as we get back, I can only imagine what flying feels like. Well without a broom that is. Why do you ask' Harry answered back, while watching Floran land on one of his robes and pick it up and drop it on the floor on the far side of his bed.

'Because .... Because of this Harry' Floran lands on the floor out of site on the far side of the bed where she dropped the robe, and as Harry started to stand to see what was going on the robe started to rise from the floor as at first arms and then a head filled the robe in front of him. The head showing the face of an attractive girl, approximately his age, with red orange hair, with a slight spotting of freckles on her face, and then he heard the voice he had been hearing in his mind for the first time. "What do you think?" Floran asked.

Opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of watch, Harry was trying to think of anything to say, but was coming up blank.

"Harry? Are you okay, I have been trying to find the time to talk to you about this, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. This is why I think you will have a phoenix form, as I gained a human form from you, you should have received yours from me." Floran stated as she approached Harry and put her hand on the shoulder of his robes.

Harry snapping out of his stupor at the contact, turn to look as Floran closer, and stood up. The top of her head came up to about Harry's eyes and she stood there nervously as he looked her over. "... Is this the matter you needed to discuss with me? " Harry asked hoping this was the last surprise for awhile as he still had not got over this one yet.

"Uh! Yes and no. This is one of the matters I needed to discuss, and it is sort of related to all of the other matters, which is why I waited until now to tell you." Floran answered even more nervous than before.

"Ok, other than this being connected to my animagus form, what else is it connected to ?" asked Harry while a part of him did not really want her to answer.

".... uh ... you see ... well it's like this .. I'm not sure how to ... " Floran tried to come up with how to state everything, she had rehearsed this many times, and everything she rehearsed was completely forgotten and she was at a loss at how to put it.

Harry took a step closer to her and reach out and took her hand to help calm her down, realising whatever she needed to say was scaring her as much as it was him, and he for some reason, he just need to help her calm down. At the moment the skin of their hands made contact there was a brilliant bright white flash and then a glow of white light surrounded them both. Both looked right at each other with a look of shock on their faces.

"Oh, shit." both of them said at the same time as a light thud was heard from the corner of the room, as Chimedis fell from his position in the corner due to laugh so hard.

'I cannot wait until they try to explain this to Sorlan' was the only thought running through Chimedis head as he laughed silently.

....


	9. Chapter 9

[Harry's Chambers, directly following the last chapter]

Harry and Floran quickly whipped their heads toward the thud in the corner.

"Grandfather is that you?" Floran said out loud, as Harry walked around to verify if it was Chimedis, finding him righting himself off the floor.

'Yes it is, and I have to say that, even though that takes the decision out of your fathers hands, you are still going to have to have Harry talk to him, and I would suggest very soon.' Chimedis answered back in between chuckles.

"Talk to your father about what? I don't know what the white light was about, but in my experience and the fact that your acted in the same way, means it wasn't anything good." Harry cried out, as Chimedis lifted himself to the back of one of the chairs.

Floran's face feel at Harry's question, and Harry quickly realised he was missing something, and he figured it was something very important, but maybe not as bad as he thought.

"Floran what was it, I get the feeling I'm missing something big here, and it is about what you were afraid of a couple of minutes ago?" Harry asked with a much softer tone.

Floran brighten up slightly realising Harry was not mad at her, and then fell again as she mentally added, 'yet'. 

"Well you see... Yes your right this is about what I wanted to talk to you about before ... Of course now the matter is even more important to discuss, and grandfather is right we are going to have to talk to my father... I wish we could have discussed this beforehand.. as this is major ... I didn't think it would happen like this... I had hoped you would ask or at least understand... and now everything is up to you, I don't even get a say .. " she rambled on working herself into a frenzy and completely stopped talking and went back to sending thoughts, '... and it isn't my fault, I was saving your life even if it was against the rules, I mean you were worthy and I was there and I just couldn't let you go without knowing if you were the one... I didn't think it was going to be like this.' she continued as tears started to fall down her face.

Harry seeing Floran was really upset, but not having much history other than looking out for Hermione after the Troll incident last year was clueless on what to do, so he looked at Chimedis for help. 'What's going on, what can I do to help?' Harry sent to Chimedis.

'Talk to Floran, try to get her calmed down so she can explain before she wears herself out. I will go get her father as I figure she is only going to be able to or want to explain this once.' Chimedis replied before flaming away.

Harry looking upset that Chimedis abandoned him, approached Floran. "Floran calm down." Harry said in the soft voice he could muster. "I might be able to help, it you would explain what is going on. I understand you didn't think it would happen like this, but I don't understand what IT is?" Harry again asked.

Floran looks up at his soft tone, realising that while she had worked herself into quite a state, she had not in fact explained anything to Harry and instantly felt even worse for making him worry even more. Still trying to stop from crying as this new form was a little more emotional than her phoenix form, she looked Harry directly in the eyes. "Well Harry to explain what has happened the most direct way, would be to say we have started the bonding process." Floran stated.

Harry seemed confused, and took a minute to formulate a question. "I thought you said we already had form the companion bond and that was how I had manifested my new abilities, or am I missing something more to this ?" Harry asked, no sure if knowing was better than not knowing. As he finished his question, Chimedis and Sorlan appeared.

'WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING BONDING TO MY DAUGHTER WITHOUT ASKING MY PERMISSION !!! WE WELCOME YOU TO OUR REALM, HEAL YOU, TRAIN YOU AND YOU THANK US BY STEALING ONE OF OUR OWN, EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY ONE YOU OWE YOU VERY LIFE TOO!!' Sorlan broadcasted so loud Harry and Floran winced at the volume.

"What do you mean stole one of your own, she is right there, and what is this BONDING everyone keeps talking about?" Harry yelled back, just at a much more acceptable level, even though he was upset we was trying not to blow up as Floran already seemed upset and scared.

Quickly Sorlan wiped his head toward Floran, 'Are you telling me you still have not talked to him about this? That you initiated a bonding without explaining what this meant? How could you do this?' Sorlan asked with shock in his voice. Quickly turning back to Harry, 'Harry I apologise for my outburst, I thought the worst of you, as any father seems to do toward his daughters would be suitor, my father just told me I need to get here as quickly as possible as you and my daughter had started the bonding.' Sorlan stated while trying to get his anger under control.

"I might be willing to understand this, but I still don't understand this bonding business, and what do you mean "Suitor"?" Harry asked with a touch of worry now in his voice, as he was quickly realising that his "Oh, Shit" from earlier should have been "Bloody Hell, I'm fucked again!"

...

Sorlan looked back to Floran, 'Well my daughter, we are all ears. I have told you several times not to put this off, now we find ourselves in this mess. Explain it to him, and I and your grandfather will try to help if we can, but this is your problem to explain.' Sorlan explained.  
Floran looking at Chimedis and her father and knowing they would not offer any assistance until she explained everything she could to Harry, directing her eyes to Harry she started, "You will want to sit down this is going to take longer than I expected."

Harry seeing that Floran was still very scared to talk to him, took the two steps closer to her and reach out for her hand to try to calm her down, in retrospect this would prove to be the wrong move.

While reaching for Floran's hand to lead her to sit with him, "Come on Floran, sit with me and explain what .." Harry did not get to finish that statement for as soon as their hands touched, another flash of light this time a bright orange, and a corresponding orange light that wrapped around the both of them. As soon as the light faded Floran screamed out in pain, "Aghh ! Make it stop ... I'm not ready ... It's too early ... " and then Floran started to fade away while looking like she was in real pain.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING! HELP HER!" Harry screamed as he looked at Sorlan and Chimedis, both with shocked looks on their faces as they looked helplessly at Harry and answered back in unison, 'We can't. There is nothing we can do to stop it.'

As this was said Floran faded out of sight..

....

 

[Gringotts, Ragnok's Office, Saturday Late Evening]

Ragnok is at his desk reviewing a large tally scroll of the Potter main accounts and the discovered irregularities, as Griphook is at a table going through the Peverell account, both look exhausted but determined. 

"Griphook, are you absolutely sure of these totals? I don't understand, even with Tightpurse's help how this much money was stolen without an auditor catching it at least once, some of these transactions started right after Lord and Lady Potter were killed?" Ragnok asked frustrated at what he was seeing.

Griphook understood the Directors frustration, and knew he was not really questioning his work, just the absurdity of the findings, answered back, "Unfortunately the findings have been confirmed twice. I tend to agree that it would have taken more than just Tightpurse to pull this off, as you said the auditors of the accounts had to have seen something was wrong. If you notice, the auditor of the Potter accounts has been the same since Tightpurse took over the account, following the Potter's deaths. I find it interesting that Mr Potters magic guardian would arrange for a change of account managers, within two days of their deaths at the same time as the will was being sealed."

Pausing to notice the change of account manager, Ragnok was growing increasingly upset at the Chief Warlock and what was being done inside his bank. Ragnok rang the bell at his desk, releasing the doors and calling for the guards outside. As the guard entered, Ragnok commanded, "Bring me the bank records for all of auditor Hookclaw and manager Tightpurse clients, as well as their personal bank records. In addition I want the bank records for Chief Warlock Dumbledore, Minister Fudge, and all records for accounts they control and their family records as well. Also make sure auditor Hookclaw is detained, while we review his records." Ragnok ordered with a certain bloodthirsty look in his eye.

As the guards quickly left to do as they were told, closing the doors as they left, Ragnok looked back at Griphook.

"Now, while we are waiting for those records, which I can only guess will make for even more interesting reading, how are we doing with the summary of those ancient accounts." Ragnok asked.

Understanding there was still much more work to be done, Griphook quickly approached the Director's desk with his tally book, showing where he was. "As you can see I have only just completed the first one, the Peverell account. I found that the family account started off by being split into three accounts and then was recombined here at the apparent end of the line, however several of the family members changed their names here. Then you can see here, apparently two new families were formed, but the money used was recorded as a loan from the original Peverell vault. While the total in the Peverell main account alone is extremely large, as the new Lord Peverell, Lord Potter can claim these families, including all titles, voting seats and properties, as none of the money was every paid back on those loans, and they stand in default." Griphook said with a sneer, several old families were going to learn why it was better to pay off borrowed money, than hope they were forgotten. Goblin don't forget about money, ever.

With a renewed gleam in his eyes, "Oh this is meeting with Lord Potter is going to be quite an interesting event, and watching the fallout of these discoveries will be enjoyable for some time to come. Have you calculated what the interest penalties on these defaulted loans will bring to Lord Potter and Gringotts?" Ragnok asked excited in a good way, for the first time in the last couple days.

Griphook say with a large toothy grin, "On the next page, and that is only the Peverell account, I cannot wait to find out what is in the others."

Ragnok flipped to the next page and looked, and a look of shock crossed the normally well controlled face of the Director, and then was replaced with a devilish toothy smile, stating "Oh, this is going to be fun. Let's get to those other accounts, give me the Emrys accounts, while you start on the le Fey accounts."

...

 

[Harry's Chambers, right after Floran vanished]

"Ok, tell me what is going on? Where did she go, and why did you do nothing?" Harry said impatiently

Both Sorlan and Chimedis looked upset and worried, but Chimedis looked at Harry and answered, 'Harry calmed down we need to explain what is going on, and there is not much time.'

"What do you mean?" Harry asked trying to calm down

'When you touched my daughter again, you moved the bonding to the next stage which drew her mind back to her physical body in your realm. I don't know how this is possible as forming this type of bond while your physical body is there should not be possible.' Sorlan answered back.

"But I thought we still had over two months or more here before the regeneration was complete? .. Wait that is why she seem to be in pain, you said something about being separated from our bodies to keep from enduring the pain of growing that fast." Harry asked while trying to comprehend the pain Floran was in.

'I might have an answer for how this happened. When I asked Floran how she performed the companion bonding, we stated she forced her regeneration and landed on you at the apex encompassing your body at the same time, which is what we believe caused the phoenix image to appear on your chest. ' Chimedis paused and them continued, 'As your physical bodies have grown during regenerated the two of you might still be in physical contact, it might have been enough to trigger the bonding when your minds touched here.' 

'But I have touched Floran as her Phoenix a number of time why didn't the bonding kick in then, in addition could you please explain this bonding so I can understand what is going on.' Harry thought getting frustrated once again.

'Right sorry trying to solve one problem at a time.... The only reason I can see for the bonding starting now, was this was the first time you had touched Floran in her human form. Her physical body must have performed the transformation at the same time, which must have put both your bodies in direct physical contact, which allowed the process to begin....' Chimedis said with a tone that stated he was proud to have thought that through, even if it was only a theory.

Realizing Chimedis had again not answered Harry's question about the bonding, Sorlan answered 'Well now that my father is happy with his new theory being thought through, let me answer your question about the bonding. I am not sure what Floran explained to you so let me start at the beginning. When you arrived we explained the companion bond to you, do you remember everything about that?'

'Yes, I remember, which is why when Floran said that we had started the bonding process I was confused, and why did she say it was against the rules?' Harry asked still curious what was really going on.

'Well first this bonding process and the companion bonding are two completely different things, but I will explain the differences. However, about being against the rules might give you a better understand to begin with... Phoenix companion bonds are always supposed to between like genders, Male to Male or Female to Female, this is so that romantic feelings do not enter into the bond. When Floran bonded with you, she knew she was breaking the rules, but thought you were worth the risk, and from what I have seen I agree, my earlier outburst was more fatherly anger than thinking clearly, again I apologize.' Sorlan explained.

'Ok, so she broke a rule, which I will have to thank her for again, as I am happy not to be dead, continue.' Harry prompted.

'Right, during your schooling did you every discuss relationships?' Sorlan asked hoping not to have to explain everything.

'Well, I know we were supposed to discuss things at the end of term this year, however with the basilisk on the loose the extra classes have been cut back. I mean during primary school before I went to Hogwarts they mentioned puberty and what would happened as we got older pertaining to girls, if that is what you mean.' Harry asked, starting to put things together now that his mind had started to focus on the matter at hand, instead of panicking.

'OK, good the bonding you have started with Floran is of this nature. When a female phoenix finds an acceptable mate, they start a bonding that will join them together forever. During the companion bond with Floran, she gave so much of herself to you in her desperation to revive you, that she took in little bit more of you into herself in the process, causing her human form. From that point, Floran saw only you as a potential mate. During the past nine month or so as your training commenced, this belief only became stronger, and I know my daughter was hoping to get to know you to the point that you would willingly wish to start the bonding process with her.' ... 'Furthermore there is a legend among the phoenixes that states a companion would arrive with powers beyond compare, he would bond with a phoenix, one of change, one with fire, one of cold, one of wisdom, the last of a forgotten race, and one with no form, and together they would return balance to your realm, and re-establish the bridges between all of the peaceful realms. Floran is convinced that your are this companion, and the council and myself are starting to think she is right.' Sorlan explained.

'Harry I have to concur, from what I have seen you do during your retraining make me back my granddaughter belief. I just wish she had got the chance to explain this to you herself, and got to know you better before this happened, now it all lies in your hands.' Chimedis added.

Harry did not speak for a couple minutes as he tried to put together everything he had just heard. 'OK, not that I am against the idea of having a girlfriend, I know the guys in my house have all started to rate the girls at Hogwarts, and I have started to notice several myself, but I hadn't thought of Floran like that, of course I hadn't see her human face until a couple of minutes ago, and she was attractive, but I don't know if I want to be bonded with her forever like THAT. Plus if I am the person of this legend, it talks of me bonding with six others, the last of a forgotten race and one with no form both stood out as difficult to comprehend, and that is hoping the others were human and it was referring to a power or ability they had, but still that is SEVEN bonded, or wives, or whatever. ' Harry thought to himself and then the end of what Chimedis said make him pause. 'What do you mean it now all lies in my hands?' Harry asked.

'You see Harry, Floran's desire to bond started this, she wants this, but you have to accept the bond otherwise, it will not take hold. If what my father believes is the case and your physical bodies are in contact with one another, the first two stages have been completed, and you will soon be yanked back to your body to complete the third and final phase. Given the time difference there, I would say you have a little less than thirty minutes before you return.' Sorlan states.

'What happens if I don't except the bond?' Harry asked, see a possible way out of this situation.

'At this point if you terminate the bonding, Floran will return to this realm both physically and spiritually. Due to your companion bond, she will never fully bond with another once she returns, so she will live out the rest of her life alone. I don't have the right to ask you this, and can honestly say I never thought I would have to ask someone this, but would you please consider this carefully before turning my daughter down. I know you are young, and have never thought of having to make this decision at thirteen, but I do not want my daughter to spend her life alone, so I ask that you seriously think before you act.' Sorlan asked with worry for his daughter clear in his voice.

Harry paused again for a moment thinking this over and over to himself, knowing what he was going to do, but just trying to come to terms with what this meant for his life.... 

'Fine.. Could you explain what I have to do to accept this bond, and exactly what will this bond do to me? ' Harry answered knowing he would have torn himself up with guilt if he would have condemned her to a life alone, he knew what being alone was like and would not wish that on anyone.

'Oh, thank you, I wish there was another way so you would not feel pressured in to this, but I thank you for thinking of my daughter's happiness. ' Sorlan exclaimed.

'Um, we might have a problem. While I am also glad you are going to complete the bonding with my granddaughter, Harry, it might still not be possible and even dangerous.' Chimedis added worry seeping into his voice.

'Why?' both Sorlan and Harry asked as the same time?

'During the final stage of bonding, quite a bit of magical energy is passed between the two parties, and as you stated earlier you are going back slightly over two months early. While this puts you back during the end of your ageing regeneration, both of your bodies are going to be very low on magical energy as the magic core is the last to regenerate since the energy has been previously directed to growing your new bodies. In addition, as your magical core is so large, it will draw in more power from Floran than she will have and it could kill you both in the process.' Chimedis answered gravely.

'So if I do this, I mostly will die again in the same spot I died the first time? Won't I just come back here and regenerate again?' Harry asked.

'Unfortunately no. A phoenix is vulnerable during the five hours after the regeneration is complete as their magic core syncs with their new bodies, this is usually why they only regenerate near someone they trust to watch over them. Neither you or Floran will have access to enough energy to initiate a regeneration, not to mention we are not absolutely sure you will ever regenerate again, unless you complete the bonding.' Chimedis answered.

'Is there no other option. I don't want to condemn here to be alone, nor do I want to die taking her with me?' Harry asked considering his apparent options.

.  
.  
.

'Father what about the abilities we were unable to train him in? Would he be able to use them to gather the energy he needs?' Sorlan asked hopefully.

Thinking for a moment Chimedis answers, 'Maybe, but I cannot guarantee anything. Harry remember I mentioned you had an innate ability to channel magical energy?' Chimedis replied.

'Yeah, you said it was why I mastered using magic so much faster than you thought I would, why, how will that help?' Harry asked back

'That ability works both way, but due to your physical body being in the other realm we were unable to train you in it. You should be able to drain magic energy from your surroundings to charge your magical core. Now this is theory, and unfortunately we do not have a way of testing it. Once you get there, and before you complete the bonding use your enhanced sight to track any possible magic nearby, place your hands on it and reverse the procedure you have been doing to release and channel your magic, this should absorb the magic into your core.' Chimedis explained

Thinking what he could use, Harry states 'Well it is called the Chamber of Secrets, as in plural so hopefully Slytherin left something I can drain there, maybe the basilisk or the diary has energy left in them I can use?'

'NO! Whatever you do, do not use the diary or the basilisk as their magic is mostly corrupt, and will not be able to help you in this case. Also you are only going to have a couple minute to find this, and they are most likely going to be mostly pain filled as your body tries to complete your regeneration at the same time.' Chimedis explained.

'Ok, so I need to wake up, focus through the pain, find something with enough power to fully charge my magical core, so I don't pull power from Floran and then complete the bond within the span of a couple minutes, anything else ?' Harry asked sarcastically as the full implications of what he needed to do became too much for him to handle. 'By the way, exactly how do I complete the final stage of the bon... Aghh !' Harry screamed being cut off in mid-sentence as he was racked with considerably more pain than he had ever experienced before and started to fade quickly.

'Harry, you are going to need to cons... ' Chimedis started to explain but stopped as he saw Harry vanished.

....


	10. Chapter 10

[Chamber of Secrets, immediately after Harry faded out of the Phoenix Realm]

Lying in the same spot where he and Floran disappeared, were the bodies the human bodies of Floran and the now optimized Harry. Floran is crying out in pain as she is experiencing the final stages of regeneration for the first time in a human body.

'By the light.. grandfather underestimated .. the pain .. when he explained this to Harry.. wish I could .. change back ... but need to hold form .. to complete ... bonding' Floran tried to think coherently as the pain ripped through her body. As she finished that thought Harry's body give a sudden shudder and jerk as Harry was reconnected to his body.

"Aghh! Bloody hell! .. ", 'most likely going to be mostly pain filled', " ....he needs to find a new word to explain this" Harry screamed out, but quickly realizes that adapting to the pain from being abused by the Dursley's was actually going to be good for something, as he starts to focus through the pain. Suddenly realising someone was laying on top of him, Harry looks down and starts, "Floran, are you okay?", while additionally realising both of them where naked as the day they were born, he blushes, but remembers Chimedis' warning about only having a few minutes to find a source to recharge, thinks modesty can come later.

'Harry... the pain!.. how are you handling this?' Floran cried out in response. 

"I'm used to handling pain, but trust me I'm still feeling it. I need your help, you father and grandfather, were mistaken on how long I had, and did not finish explaining the bonding process, the last thing Chimedis tried to explain sounded like I would have to cons.. and he was cut off. Tell me that last word wasn't consummate, please." Harry asked.

Floran, slightly chuckled before answering, 'No, not consummate .. consume. Seems you have .. a dirty mind after all... You need to encasing both of use in a energy field... then you need to claim me.. as your bonded... while holding me as close as possible... then consume us both .. by pushing the field in to our bodies to complete the bond... but Harry I don't think.. we have the ... power need to do this.. we came back.. too soon.' as the pain continued to spread through her.

"Let me work out our power problem first, Chimedis and your father had a possible solution. How do I create the energy field? Try talking it uses less focus than telepathy." Harry asked while trying not to stare at Floran's body and stay focused on the job at hand.

"You .. make the field .. by summoning your power as you do for spell casting.. by then holding it and allow it to start to .. build, it will then radiate from your body.. keep focusing on it until you encompass.. us both, then stop adding power, make the claim, then push... the power into us to fuel the bonding.." Floran answered out of breath.

Getting to his feet, Harry focuses on his enhanced magical sight, and starts to look around the Chamber for something he can use, hoping Chimedis was right. "Let me see ... ", seeing the basilisk glowing a dark green and black, understanding what Chimedis meant by corrupt. The walls all have a slight glow to them, looking up seeing the roof was much brighter, but mostly out of reach, even if he climbed back up to where he stabbed the basilisk from. There seemed to be a hidden door in the wall, which glowed brightly from behind, but again figuring out how to open it to get to the glow might take longer than he had. "Come on there has to be something.." Harry said openly and he continued to scan, then noticing a bright narrow crack of something in the floor at the very entrance of the main chamber. Looking at Floran, "Hang in there, I will be right back, I think I found something" then turning and running toward the entrance.

"Please hurry" Floran answer to his retreating form. 

Exiting the chamber and looking at the energy crack inside the floor, following it to where there seemed to be an extreme bright point on the other side of the snake bridge walkway. Harry made his way over to the bright point noticing it was the intersecting point of two such cracks. Harry thinks to himself 'these must be the magical lay lines Hogwarts was built on, Slytherin must have used these to keep the Chamber hidden and keep the basilisk alive all this time.'. Then with a "Here goes.." Harry put his hand on the floor above the intersection, focusing on his core, he notices just how dull the core looks, 'No wonder I feel like shit, I'm running on petrol fumes' , Harry thinks. He starts to pull from the energy point, pulling power into his core, with great effort the flow start to refill his core, but at an extremely slow rate. Harry tries pulling harder and harder but the flow only increase very slightly. After a couple minutes the flow has not increased, "This isn't going to work, I don't have this much time". Harry focuses on his core and opens the path to his core fully, but still the flow does not increase. 'I have to get closer to the source, but how?' Harry questions himself, thinking of a way, suddenly a memory of the mountain range pops into his head. "Right, I just hope I don't blow us up in the process." Harry exclaims to himself. Focusing what little power his core had into a single concentrated point and using his desperation for this to work, and his desire to save both Floran and himself he lets the energy surge toward the junction.

The floor cracks leaving a whole about 12cm apart, 20cm long, and about half a meter deep. As the dust clears Harry has to turn down his enhanced sight as the glow coming from the exposed lay line it blinding. In the background he hears Floran scream out in pain again, and it snaps him into action. Thinking about what he is about to do, 'ohh, this is going to hurt' he thinks to himself as he pushes his hand directly into the energy flow and opens the flow to his core.

Instantly every cell in Harry's body sends out signals of pain beyond imagination, Harry's mind is overwhelmed and like a person being electrocuted he is unable to move to remove his hand from the energy flow. Trying to work through the pain, he hears Floran crying out as she is receiving some of the pain through their bond, but he can't end the draw. Feeling as he is about to explode, Harry feels his body expanding to try to compensate for the overload. After what seems like an eternity, but could have been seconds, Harry feels slight sensation in his hand and focuses on it enough to move his hand from within the flow, breaking the connection. Crawling to the wall to help him stand, Harry looks down at himself, but has to turn his sight off as he is glowing much like the lay line. 'Well guess I over did it a bit, but I should have enough to complete the bond.' Harry starts to make his way back to Floran, a little slower as his nerve endings are still sending pain throughout his entire body. Entering the chamber, he quick moves toward Floran.

Floran looking at Harry is awe. "What did you.. d-do?! What caused all the p-pain." she stuttered out, as Harry was actually glowing blue/white, and she knew she did not have the sight in her human form.

"Bit of a warning.. Never.. and I mean NEVER grab a magical lay line." Harry said collapsing behind Floran, as he slowed pulled her into his arms and moved to wrap his legs around hers, preparing for the bonding.

"But that's not possible... any living thing magical or not touching an open lay line... would be incinerated instantly! Even a phoenix." Floran answered back, but noticing the pain in her body was ending as Harry hugged her, she instantly felt almost at peace.

"Now you tell me... we'll talk later about those important safety tips" Harry answered trying to calm her down, as he entered his mind and attempted to access his core, which nearly blinded him. Instead of the turning orb of power he was use to seeing, his hold body seemed to be radiating power in an almost white blue consistency. He felt his way to it, so he could build his magic into the energy field, but as soon as he started he heard Floran.

'Harry that plenty, don't add any more power or you will encompass the basilisk!' Floran cried out

Harry opening his eyes seeing the same white/blue energy expanding some two meters around him, pull it back to within half a meter and held it. Suddenly Harry understood what her earlier instructions meant. Seeing Floran wrapped in his arms, the feeling of protectiveness Harry had experienced in the phoenix realm came back to him many times over, and as he started pulling the field into their bodies a flare of magic enhanced the field, making it brighter and more white. Harry looked at Floran and in a voice filled with the power at his command, bellows possessively "MINE", Floran flinches slightly as the bond is initiated, but recovers as Harry continues, "I, Harry James Potter, take you Floran of the light as my bonded mate" and with that statement Harry pulls the power into them completely as their bodies are consumed by the energy field and for a moment a ball of blue/white energy appears and then vanishes in a flash, taking them with it.

...

[Hogwarts, Saturday Night, shortly before Midnight]

The lights of the entire castle dimmed for about two minutes, during which time the ghost of the castle actually seemed disturbed by something.

"What in the name of Merlin was that?" Sir Nicholas cried out, as Minerva walked into the hall looking to see if the lights had dimmed here as well.

"I have no idea. However with the number of horrible things that have happened this week, I can only hope it is not another." Minerva answered back.

Suddenly the lights returned, but a scream was hear from near the Great Hall, causing Minerva to hurry towards the sound, as the ghosts quickly followed.

...

 

[Hogwarts Great Hall, Saturday Night, Midnight]

Minerva entered the Great Hall, just as Flitwick, Albus, and the ghosts arrived. There on the ground of the Great Hall, were the bodies of some twenty house elves. Minerva was in shock as a small gasp escaped her before getting her emotions under control. As they approached the elves, the elves started to slowly recover from whatever had happened to them.

"Please explain what has happened here" Albus asked the elf closest to the door.

"I be coming to help prepare the hall for morning, when the energy from Hogwarts that sustains us elves just stopped. I apologise for crying out, I knows not why this happened, headmaster" the little elf said looking upset she could not answer the headmaster better.

In his grandfather mode, "That is quite alright, I understand. Has the energy flow resumed, and are the elves alright to continue?" Albus asked kindly.

"No, everything’s back to normal. Wez be having everything done by mornin." as she was saying this the other elves were resuming the duties.

"Good, please let me know if this happens again." Albus said, looking at the staff and ghosts around him. "Do any of you have any idea what just occurred?" he asks.

"No, but I was just observing all of the light in the main hallway dim, and Sir Nicholas seemed to think something was up when I arrived" Minerva answered.

"Sir Nicholas, anything you can add." Albus questioned.

"Well, yes you see, for a brief moment the pull of Hogwarts which keeps us ghosts here seemed to have weakened. It was over in a moment, but it was the first time I have every felt it do that in the entire time I have been here." Sir Nicholas answers back, as the other ghost nodded in agreement.

"Albus, what does this mean?" Minerva asks.

"Unfortunately, I do not know. But as Hogwarts herself still has many mysteries I have not been made aware of, this may be yet another. It could be the castles reaction to the general feeling of melancholy that has descended on the castle since Mr Potter's death. We will have to search the grounds to make sure this has not been an attack on the wards, but as they have not signalled me, I would say this is just a precautionary measure. Please alert the rest of the staff so we can finish this quick, as we all have a rather long day tomorrow." Albus answered back.

"Of course, headmaster" Minerva fires back, not feeling she is being told everything, but then again how was that anything new.

...

[Chamber of Secrets, Shortly after Midnight, Saturday Night]

Another flash of blue/white energy appears and the forms of Harry and Floran reappeared in the same place, and same position as before, however the blue/white energy was still surrounding them, ever so slowly pushing into their bodies.

[Inside Harry's Mind]

Feeling the connection to Floran, Harry calls out 'Floran'. But before he can get a reply, he is barraged with memories, not his own. He is reliving all of Floran's memories: 

He saw her first memory of coming out of her shell, the effort she need use to escape. The love of her parents. Her first feeding, 'gross but thank god phoenix don't eat worms, chewed fruit was bad enough' Harry added

Her first successful flight,' what an experience, to really fly'. Harry hoped he did have a phoenix form because, he would love to try that again. 

He relived her learning years of what a phoenix can do. The experience of transcending the realms, the years she travel from place to place, meeting people, her first witch, Helena, a nice lady of average strength, but tremendous conflictions. The loss she felt as Helena eventually passing. 

The sixty years she travelled alone until meeting Katrina, her second witch. Much more powerful, and a pure-blood witch of the light. Living the years with her until she was killed in an accident before Floran could reach her to help.

Then the years between, until her bonding with a very young Albus Dumbledore. Harry experienced what Albus was like as younger man, pure of focus, deep on the side of the light, and then watched as he started seeing all changes that came with the death of his sister Ariana, then his defeat of his once friend, turned enemy Grindelwald. He watch the change in how Dumbledore saw the light and how he started justifying everything 'for the greater good' Harry thought. 

He saw Dumbledore realize Tom was turning evil, and trying to correct it, but upon hearing the Prophecy believing he could not stop him, he started positioning people as pawns, to fulfil the prophecy as quickly as possible. He saw the discussion with James and Lily about moving to the Hollow, and the Fidelius charm. The idea of using Sirius, his apparent godfather, as bait and making Peter, another friend it seemed as the secret keeper. Then the shocking news of Voldemorts' end and the death of the Potters, and the fate of Frank and Alice Longbottom, and the surprise that Harry had survived. Realizing Harry was the child of prophecy, and that he would have to keep him in control, Albus saw Sirius as a problem, which was cleared up when he hear Sirius had been arrested, so he just watched and let this man go to prison without lifting a finger. He watch Albus seal his parents will and create a form saying he was Harry's guardian. Hearing the discussion in his office with McGonagall about leaving him with the Dursley's. 'Discussion, more like a cat-fight, no pun intended, he would have to thank her for trying'. Harry added.

Another memory of Albus realizing he was going to be too old to fight Voldemort when he returned and the secondary bonding he performed on Floran, draining energy from her, to help keep him healthy, 'bastard!' screamed Harry.

Then Harry's school years. The half truths Dumbledore used when explaining things to Harry. The planning to get Harry involved with the Sorcerer's stone, and the aftermath of the final battle. Watching Albus secure the stone in a box to block its magical energy, and then writing a letter explaining to his' friend' Nicholas that is had been destroyed, even going as far as blaming Harry for its 'accidental' destruction. 'Bastard!' Harry screamed again getting more pissed off.

Their first meeting in Dumbledore's office. Then this year, and the petrifactions, it seemed Albus had a clue it was a basilisk, but never bothered to find the Chamber. Albus had detected the cursed item when it entered Hogwarts, but was hoping to locate it, so he could study it, so he told know one. Then using the excuse of being dismissed to let Harry and friends solve another problem for him. 'Fucking bastard, I died cleaning up for him.' Harry commented realizing just how much of his life was planned out for him.

Then Floran delivering the sword, and learning the fact that Albus had not sent her, but she felt his desperation and wanted to help. Her heartbreak at finding out she was too late. The pride she felt in him as he sent the young girl away, when he realized he was dying. The grief she felt when she discovered he died, the pain she pushed herself through, to force the regeneration cycle to try to save him. The fear of rejection in telling him about the bonding, the pride she had in her choosing of a mate, the awe she held as she watch him train, the love for family as they accepted Harry, the love that she felt as she learned he had returned to complete the bonding. Finally a new feeling of awe seeing him glow and finding out about him feeding his core from a lay line, just to save them. The feeling of security that he had provided to her during the bonding. 

With the memory transfer complete, Harry passes into a deep sleep as his body and core stabilizes and continues to absorb the extra energy he took in, as the bonding moves toward its completion.

 

[Inside Floran's mind]

Feeling Harry's mind make the final connection, she knew what to expect, she just hoped Harry had been told. As she braced herself it began. 

Harry's memories filled her head, starting with a few memories of his parents, James and Lily, 'I remembered them'. Floran thought.

She received memories of his first feedings, 'how could they feed their child something like that, yuck!' Floran exclaimed.

Seeing Harry flying on a toy broom, bought by Sirius Black his godfather. Memories of his first year and all the family and friends surrounding him. Experiencing the death of his mother, the rebound of the killing curse, being left at the Dursley's , his horrible childhood, 'how could people treat a child like that'. commented Floran

His cousin beating him up, his uncle punishing him for stuff he couldn't have done. Memories of Albus showing up and fixing things, even the suppressed memories of being oblivated of these visits. The joy of finding out about Hogwarts. Hagrid coming to pick him up, the wonder of Diagon Alley, Gringotts and the goblins, making his first friends on the train, his first view of Hogwarts from the boat. His adventures at Hogwarts, his guilt from having killed Professor Quirrell, even knowing he was trying to kill him . 

The summer between school, the continual abuse from his family. His meeting Floran, the fear for his friends being paralysed, his finding out his DADA teacher was a fraud, the fight with Tom and the basilisk. His joy at her help, the thrill of victory, the knowledge that he was going to die, his courage to lie to Ginny Weasley to spare her his death. 

His death, and rebirth. His training and friendship with her grandfather. His worry for her during her recuperation, and then the fear of losing her from the bonding. His determination to save her, his embarrassment from seeing her naked, the pain of grabbing the lay line in his attempt to save them, and his complete conviction of the final bonding, even though he knew nothing of what was to come, 'boy do I have a lot to explain' Floran thought to herself.

With the memory transfer complete, Floran passed into a deep sleep as her own body and core adapts to the completion of the bonding.

 

[Chamber of Secrets]

The bonding energy completed its absorption into the two newly bonded, but Harry was still glowing with blue/white energy of his own, and as the next twenty hours elapsed as they slept and recovered the energy was slowly absorbed into his body. His body started ageing and growing accordingly to handle the new power levels. As Harry's body aged, surprisingly so did Floran, leaving two fifteen year old bodies, in a very embarrassing or suggestive embrace.

...


	11. Chapter 11

[Chamber of Secrets, after the growth cycle was completed]

Harry and Floran were still spooned together, in the same location as they appeared previously. However during their rest period Harry had subconsciously pulled Floran's body closer to his own, and was holding her possessively. Floran started to wake up first, finding herself feeling warm and secure, even if the floor was not the most comfortable, not realizing it, she pushed herself into Harry's embrace, while rubbing against Harry in a way that quickly made itself known, as Harry tightened his grip while pulling her even tighter against his body. 'Oh!' Floran exclaimed, 'now that is a feeling I could get use to, no wonder Katrina did not like sleeping alone' she thought to herself experiencing sensations she never could as a phoenix, not understanding that her actions had started waking Harry from his own slumber.

Harry came to with a start as he felt his 'morning condition' press against a warm body and realized he was wrapped around said body tightly holding a nicely formed breast in his hand, and furthermore realizing he was enjoying these sensations. Then everything started to click into place, as his mind processed everything at once. 'One he was alive, 'Yeah me! It worked!'. Two he was wrapped around Floran still. Three the floor was definitely not comfortable. Four they were both naked. Five he was really enjoying the feeling of having Floran's body in his arms and pressed against him. Six they were both naked... Naked...’ as points four and six finally registered Harry's eye popped open and he immediately released Floran's breast and tried to move away, only to push himself into the back of a block of stone that had fallen earlier.

"Don't go away, I was comfy!" Floran whined out.

Harry looking in shock, as he realized Floran was awake, answered back without thinking things through, "Yeah I was enjoying it too..." blushing as he realizing what he just said. "I mean, I was comfortable too, but the floor was making it a little too hard... I mean difficult to lie there" blushing even more as he took in Floran's nude form as she rolled to look at him. 'Damn she looks good' Harry thought to himself, or so he thought, as his body reacted to the sight before him, and his 'morning condition' became more pronounced and a bit more uncomfortable.

Floran seeing the evidence of Harry's arousal and have never experienced the emotion of lust as she was now answered back, "Was it the floor or that, that was uncomfortable", pointing to Harry's condition. Then realizing the situation completely and taking in Harry in all his glory with human eyes and emotions, Floran started to blush herself as she started to get up.

"A little bit of both actually, which I will only admit to you... " Harry answered back as he looked down at the ash on the ground where here had been laying, "... is it as disturbing to you as it is to me, that we were cuddling on the floor in our own previous bodies ashes?" Harry asked realizing what they had done.

Floran's head quickly looks down and realizes that, that was exactly what they had been doing and from the amount of caked ash on both their bodies, they had been there for some time. "Ah! yes I will agree that is a bit disturbing... Do you think you could create some robes or something for us until we can get some clothes?" Floran asked.

"I can try, let's see how the training I did carried over", Harry thinks about needing something for both of them to wear, and then goes to pull power from his core, but realizes the clothes he was thinking about were already there. "Well that was easier than I thought it was going to be." Walking over to Floran and handing her a pile of clothes, jeans, shirt, undergarments, trainers and a set of very finely made robes, while trying not to stare are her well proportioned and very well defined teenage body. "Here, I hope they fit, I did not even think of what I wanted, just that we needed something to wear and they appeared." while trying not to blush.

"Harry, I don't care if you look. We are bonded, we will be together for the rest of our lives, and in human terms we could be considered married. I would hope you like what you see, from your bodies reaction to mine, I think you do, and please understand I feel the same way about you." Floran says while trying to brush the ash from her side as a way to try to ignore the blush that was light up her face.

Seeing her trying to remove the ash, and trying to not think of other things he would like to do right now, Harry answers back, "Here let me...", and moved his hand in a downward pass as he casts a cleaning charm on Floran and then does the same to himself to remove the dust, sweat and other grime from their bodies. "That will have to do until we can get into a shower." Harry finishes, again not thinking that statement through.

Floran catches the open statement though and tries to lighten the mood, "and exactly what do you planned once we get in to this shower, hmm Harry?" she teases.

Blushing slightly, but realizing Floran is trying to embarrass him a little, not knowing where the courage is coming from answers back, "well, this is our honeymoon and a nice hot shower would seem to be a much better location to continue what we started when we were waking up than the floor of this chamber. Plus you never know the bathroom could be attached to the master bedroom where ever we find ourselves..." Harry answers with a sultry sound as he was getting into the act a bit more than he planned, as he took a step toward Floran as he was talking.

"Eep... Ah yeah we can discuss that later, I... I didn't mean to..." Floran started to answer back as she quickly realized through their link that Harry was having a fun on her, and she fell for it. "Oh you... you just had to one up me on the teasing didn't you!" Floran went from embarrassed to disappointed in a blink of an eye as she realized that even though she had seen her previous witches flirting with men, she was still new at it, and it seemed she had much to learn. "Hay! I don't remember you flirting with anyone in the memories we shared, where did that come from?" Floran asked as she started to get dressed again.

Harry thought about that for a second before answering as he himself started to get dressed, "Well I lived through your memories, and remember Katrina being really aggressive with her boyfriends, and how the banter went on between them, and having been able to see the female perspective on the thing, I realized what you were trying to do and acted accordingly, however... if you would have reciprocated to my advancements, I am not exactly sure what I would have done, as you know this is also new to me, so let just take it slow ok? Not that I don't see it happening between us, but I really think out first time together should not be on the floor of the chamber where I died! Plus I really wish we would have had more time to get to know one another, at least in this form, before we returned." Harry answered back.

"Yeah, sorry about that” Floran started to mumble, her head slightly drooping in shame “I was so worried you would feel trapped, or scared about the possibility that I waited until I could not wait any longer... in hindsight I think I wasted too much time, I wished you would have chosen to bond with me, for me, instead of feeling pressured into it. But I will spend the rest of my life being thankful you did..."

Having finished dressing Harry walks quickly over to Floran and stops her rambling by wrapping her up in his arms. "Now understand this, as I only want to say it once. Yes, you waited too long, yes, I would have liked to have had more time to think it over. But, considering everything, I think it would have eventually turned out this way." Harry states as Floran looks up hopeful into his eyes, "I have had feelings of protectiveness and concern about you since the beginning, and while we did not talk in this form before, I did get to know you during all though talks, and the training sessions with Chimedis, plus by getting to know your mother, grandfather and father even though no one told me Sorlan was your father," Harry continued with a slight bit of laughter as he teased Floran about Sorlan, "I got to know about you even more, so let's forget about how we got here, and just move on from here, together, okay?" Harry asking the last words as his looked into Floran eyes as tears started to run down her face.

"Y-Yes, I think I would like that, thank you..." Floran cried out as she nearly crushes Harry in a hug.

"Air... Need air!" Harry jokingly cries out as Floran released him and backs up a bit.

"Sorry about that, first hug." Floran says meekly as a rumble comes from her stomach. Reaching a hand on her stomach and feeling it vibrate she giggles a bit. "So that is what being hungry feels like to a human" and a look of horror crosses her face.

Quickly changing from humor to worry Harry asks concerned, "Floran what is wrong?"

Looking a Harry and realizing he was worried she answers back, "I just thought of some of the nasty things human eat?"

Realizing she is serious, Harry can't hold it in and starts laughing "I thought something was really wrong! Trust me if human food is the only thing you have to worry about, you are doing fine" Harry cries out as he gets himself under control.

Not finding it funny, Floran asks "Funny... Ha, Ha. I have the memories of some of the food you eat, it is disgusting, how can you eat cooked food like that, how can you eat animals like that at all?" 

"First, don't knock it until you try it, you have human taste buds now, things are going to be all new to you, trust me the things you eat in phoenix form will not fill you up, and they definitely will not taste good to you in this form. I assume if I have a phoenix form, I will have to get used to eating your food as well, so it will be a learning experience for both of us. So we will just have... " Harry answers back, stopping as he is looking down at his hand having felt a tingling sensations and sees little energy discharges happening between his fingers. "What is going on?" Harry asks out loud to no one in particular.

Floran walks over to him and looks at his hand, seeing the blue and white glow starting seemingly from within his hand, causing the little discharges. "It seems you have not fully integrated the power you consumed earlier, it might explain how easily you made the clothes and cast the cleaning charms without speaking any incantation." she answers.

"So you think I just have left over power from..." stopping to think of a conversation he had with Chimedis about a particular spell, "maybe this is a good thing... Come with me but keep your distance I want to try a spell you grandfather talked to me about." Harry stated as he moved to where the diary lay on the ground.

Interested in what he was doing Floran asked, "Harry what are you trying to do?   
"You see your grandfather and I had this discussion about a particular spell that Merlin used.." Harry started explaining.

 

...

 

[FLASHBACK - Harry's Quarters, Phoenix Realm, approximately six months into training]

Harry is sitting in the window arch looking at the forest below, sipping on a cold butterbeer, while Chimedis is perched on a peg near the window.

'Harry why do you continue to drink and eat while you're here, you know you don't have need to as you are here as a construct while your body regenerates?' Chimedis asks.

Laughing at the question to himself, 'The same reason I crash at night to sleep when I don't need to. I am use to it, and doing normal things helps me remember where I come from, and what it is like to be human. Plus the food and drink tastes like I remember, so it is like enjoying a piece of home, or in my case Hogwarts as I don't enjoy anything about where I live.' Harry answers back. 'Now you were telling me about Merlin and this alternate spell he used when defeating a warlock or renegade wizard?' Harry continued.

'Right, you see the original Praedia Bellica or Spoils of War spell, stripped a fallen opponent of their lands, titles, properties, wealth and family. The victor would cast the spell, take over the family and either have to marry the original wife and all eligible daughters or have the family killed to dispose of them without the needed marriages. Merlin had no interest in taking another wife, or several in some incidences, but also did not want the fallen warlord to keep his ill-gotten fortune, properties and what not, so he reworked the spell in to the Per Vox of Victum or the By Right of Conquest spell. The Per Vox of Victum spell did almost the same thing as the Praedia Bellica spell with the exception that it drained the victim's magical core, adding it to the casters own and made the remaining family members of the victim wards of the house instead of chattel, which would allow the new head of house to strike people from the family tree instead of killing them. The drawback to the spell was due to the amount of magical energy the Per Vox of Victum required no one he knew of had the ability to absorb another person's magical core except himself and now you. Since no one he knew had the power required it was never taught to anyone else, Merlin just used it as his own alternative to the Praedia Bellica spell.' Chimedis explained.

'Okay so I could, if I wanted to, cast this Per Vox of Victum spell when I defeated a death eater, but would the spell not kill them by removing their core?' Harry asked, trying to figure out where Chimedis was going with this.

'No Harry it does not rip out the core, it drains it and leaves it unable to produce magic, changing a wizard into what you refer to as a muggle, or at most a squid as they may still be able to see magic' Chimedis answered back.

'Alright, but why would I want to, you already told me my core is stronger than other humans you had heard of, and probably twice as tough. Plus what would I do with another family name, the boy-who-lived is already more hyphens than I need in a name, instead of adding more family names?' Harry asked back still not understanding why Chimedis was teaching him this.

'This all goes back to you telling me how you have somehow fought and defeated the same person three times and seemingly either destroyed or killed him each time, plus the soul fragment that died when your body stopped functioning' Chimedis started.

'OK, go ahead, I would like to hear what you guys came up with.' Harry answered back 

'When I was with Merlin, he fought a warlock that had split his own soul in two and tied half of it to an item that he had hidden so that he was anchored to the living world, as long as that piece of his soul remained he did not pass on and kept coming back. Merlin fought him several times and seemingly defeated him twice before he figured out what was going on. After hunting the item down and destroying it, Merlin was finally able to put the warlock down for good. From what you explained you have now put down this Voldemort character four times, and in four different forms, which leads us to believe he has done something similar to what the warlock had done, but it sounds as if he may have split his soul more than once, actually he sounds like he found a way to split is several more times, which is in itself amazing, but also asinine.’ Chimedis explained.

Harry paled at being told their theory, even more so that it made Voldemort out to be immortal. 'Now if I did inherit the phoenix immortality and Voldemort is immortal he will be hounding me forever, that's just not right on so many levels. Any idea on how many times, and how I find them so I can put him down for good, plus what does this have to do with the Per Vox of Victum spell?' Harry asked back.

'How many time he split his soul unfortunately I don't know, and how to find them is another item I can't help you with, but remember each time he split it, he split it in half, so the first time you would have 50%, then 25%, then 12.5%, then 6.25%, then a little over 3%, then 1.5% and so on, so you probably could not go more than 7 or 8 before there was nothing left, but in addition the more you split a soul, more insane you would become... Now it is this reason that I mentioned the Per Vox of Victum spell, you said the spectre you fought was of a young Tom Riddle before becoming Voldemort, which should mean most likely that is the first split or 50%, then you said you defeated one when you were a baby which is probably the next to last one he created, so using the theory of 8 being the maximum that would be less about .75%, then the one you defeated last year, giving it was probably older than the one you defeated as a child so say 1.50% and the one that was attached to you being the smallest at .35%, if these are the order you have defeated than you have already beat him by over half or as we are working it over 52.5% and that is if he created eight. It does not matter however how many he made as by defeating the first half plus all the others, you have defeated the majority of the so call Lord Voldemort soul, so the spell should work.' Chimedis explained excitedly.

'Alright I see how this might help, but I don't have a body to cast it on the spectre dissolved.' Harry states plainly.

'Yes but you still have the diary which was where he was tied to, and since hurting the diary hurt the spectre, you can try to cast the spell on the diary. Now remember this is all conjecture but if it works, you would drain over half of his magical core, even if this did not stop him, if he does make it back it would make him that much easier to defeat, and with your magical core you should no problem absorbing the energy. The important thing is to do it as soon as possible so the magic connection to the soul fragment is still fresh, but make sure you are fully rested as it will still take a good bit of energy to accomplish even for you. The other benefit of this is you will hurt him where it really counts.' Chimedis concludes.

Thinking for a second Harry asks, 'If taking half his core in not hurting him where it counts, than where?'

'His heritage Harry, you said how he gloated about being the heir of Slytherin, and how Slytherin was the greatest of the four founders. So how do you think he will react if he comes back and realizes he can't claim this anymore has he has been stripped of his house and his connection to Slytherin. Not to mention if his claim was true, you get to keep the Chamber of Secrets and the basilisk remains by right of Conquest, which should piss that Albus character off to no end. Even back in Merlin's day a small basilisk would be harvested for many valuable spell and potion components, so one the size you described should be worth a small fortune. Now, if you do this, when you get to Gringotts and access Emrys vault, you should find a manual on the basic parts of value for the creature, that is not counting anything new they have figured out how to use. If I were you I would ask the goblins about what it would cost to have them render it down as they will make sure you get the maximum value out of it, as I can guarantee they will take a percentage and they will want to make as much money out of it as they can.' Chimedis

'While pissing off Albus and taking Voldemort down a peg is worth it, I really don't want to become the heir of Slytherin, anyway to pass on the title?' Harry asked.

'Sorry it is an all or nothing spell, just be glad you will not have to take his wife, if he has one. Can you even image what someone that insane would consider attractive.' Chimedis shutters as he thinks it.

'Great thanks for that image, I will never get that thought out of my head. Goodnight Chimedis I will see you in the morning.' Harry answers laughing slightly.

'Good night Harry' Chimedis answers before flashing away.

[END FLASHBACK]

 

[Chamber of Secrets, right as Harry finishes explaining the occurrence in the flashback]

"So, let me understand this, you are going to try casting this spell grandfather talked to you about on the diary, when the theory is based on guesses and maybes?" Floran asks.

"Well as he explained it needs to be cast as soon as possible, and I need to be at maximum power, I figured as I currently have more than maximum I need a way to burn the excess off and if this doesn't work I will still be strong enough to get up over to Gringotts afterwards." Harry answers back.

"Well, first we don't know if the energy is excess or not, and we don't know what the worst case scenario is in this idea?" Floran answered back worried.

"Don't worry, I have a feeling Chimedis is right on this, I feel it and if not we go to Gringotts. We should be able to get something to eat after we finish our business at the bank and return to the castle. I think I remember the way to the kitchens from your memories with Dumbledore." Harry answers back as he prepares to cast the spell.

"Just be as careful as possible, we just bonded and I would like to get to know you better." Floran states as she backs away as she was instructed to.

"Same here, plus if I am the one from the your legend I won't die I have too much still to do. I don't know how long this is going to take so why don't you try to think of a new name, as your grandfather said you should not go by your given name in this realm. You will need to explain that to me later, as he kept getting sidetracked when I asked him about it." Harry states calmly.

"You know, maybe I was wrong about your trait of putting people ahead of yourself, maybe your just mental if you are using this as a way to find out if you are or are not the companion of the legend, that is nuts?" Floran sat down to sulk about Harry's attitude.

"Don't sulk, it is unattractive. Plus hopefully this won't take long." Harry states as he enter his core and charges himself to cast the spell, opening his eyes he is amazed to see he is once again glowing with a blue and white light, he glances over to Floran to see a look of awe on her face but can't say anything as he needs to stay focused on the spell. Hovering his hands over the diary and placing them together, he focussed on what his wants to accomplish with the spell and says the incantation. " Per Vox of Victum" as a beam of blue/white energy leaves from his hands and hits the diary. Suddenly there is a flash and the flow of energy seems to reverse as the spell starts pulling energy from the portion of Voldemorts soul pieces that Harry has defeated. 'It's working I can feel the connection to Slytherin. Great I guess I now am the Heir of Slytherin, that will be fun to explain' then he feels the connection to another powerful house, but since he was not expecting it, he is not sure which, then the flow seems to slow and reverse again and he needs to put more energy in the beam and then another series of flashes are seen from the book, and then the stream reverses again this time faster, and Harry is caught in an onslaught of information, titles, names of families, some he knew and even more he didn't. He feels connections to places he has never been, people he has never met, he gains knowledge of money accounts, hideaways, houses that seem hidden from view, history of families long thought gone and dealings both in the wizarding work and the muggle, it seems unending and he loses track of time, he is not sure how long this continue, in the background he thinks he can hear Floran screaming at him to stop, but he doesn't know how, when all the sudden then spell ends. Harry looks up and stares at Floran seeing tears running down her face, and suddenly feels horrible. "Bugger! I have to lay down and remind me to never listed to anything Chimedis says again." and then Harry collapses.

"Harry!" Floran screams as she approaches Harry's body, only to stop as she feels and can see magic energy all around him. "Harry! Wake up!" she screams to no avail, then trying to send a thought to Harry, 'Harry wake up, I'm scared, please wake up', but she experiences some type of interference, as she watches helplessly, not knowing what she can do. After watching for a bit she notices he is still breathing and calms down a little. 'Oh, Grandfather you had better hope I don't have a burning day for a long while, as I am going to make a feather pillow out of you for this the next time I see you!' Floran thinks as she waits for Harry to wake up so she scream at him too.

Meanwhile in Harry's head he is trying to sort through all the information he received from the spell, his mind is a whirlwind of information and he keeps getting lost. A prevailing thought occurs to Harry, 'oh I am in so much trouble when I wake up' then chuckling to himself as a thought comes to him offhandedly, 'the wife is going to be so pissed with me!'

...

[Gringotts, Ragnok's Office, Sunday Late Night]

Griphook looks up as he puts the lid back on the last box, and looks around the office. Signs of working around the clock for the better part of two days were evident. Ragnok was looking at the final ledger, the shear amount of money, the number of broken contracts, defaulted loans, and property owned by Lord Potter-Emrys and his various other houses was staggering. 

"Sir, if you have no further need of my services this evening." Griphook mentioned to his director.

Looking up and seeing all the materials had already been put away as he reviewed the fruits of their labour, "Ah. Good, everything is put back... No, it looks as we have finally reviewed all of those materials, I thank you for your dedication to this project, and will not forget our agreement. Go home and get some rest, I think it will take both of us to go over this with Lord Potter-Emrys when he arrives. Make sure you keep his title unknown by anyone until after we discuss it with him and explain out findings..." Ragnok states.

"Of course Director, privacy is still paramount even on an account of this size." Griphook answers back.

Laughing a bit at the answer, "I do not believe there has ever been an account of this size, but the directive still stands. In addition, as you were the one to discover the involvement of auditor Hookclaw in this matter, your account has been credited with 20% of his total account holdings." Ragnok explained.

Shocked at being presented no only with the opportunity to become an account manager, but a 20% finding fee for his work had Griphook temporarily stunned, but he quickly recovered, "Thank you Director."

"You are more than welcome. As I said get some rest, I think we are going to need it in the next couple of..." just as he was about to finish his answer a pounding on the door startled both of them. Pressing the button on his desk once more the doors opened and another vault goblin entered. "Yes, what is it, I thought I left instructions that I was not to be disturbed?" Ragnok barked out.

A slightly nervous vault goblin entered and answered, "Uh, yes Director sir, I would not have bothered you but your presence is required on the lowest vault floor, as well as on several others."

"What is the matter now, I already retrieved the records on the reactivated vaults, as you can see" as Ragnok pointed to the boxes and ledgers piled in the corner of his office.

Looking over the boxes in the corner and then back toward the director, "No, Director sir those are vaults 1 through 4 and 7, this is about vaults 5, 6, 8, 11, 16, 28, 39, 57, 80, 81 - 84, 96 - 99, 111, 136, 148, 157, 166 - 170, 196, 213, 266, 298, 311 - 316, 458, 477, 481, 493, 495, 511, 641, 698, 721, 744, 765, 841, 886, 911 - 915, 1011, 1086 - 1094, 1217, and 1466." the vault goblin answers nervously.

Ragnok looks momentarily shocked and looks at the vault goblin, asking but not really wanting to know, "And just what is wrong with all of those vaults?"

"Um, ah you see the ownership of all of these vaults have been transferred somehow, and the ancient vaults 5, 6, 8, 11 and 16 have been reactivated, but we don't know how." the vault goblin answered now scared of the look on the directors face.

Ragnok turned from the vault goblin and looked at Griphook with a knowing look in his eyes, they both thought the same name, "Lord Potter-Emrys".

...


	12. Chapter 12

[Malfoy Manor, Study - Sunday Late Night]

Lucius Malfoy is sitting behind his desk with a satisfied smirk on his face drinking a sniffer of brandy. 'We finally put an end to that little brat... granted it cost me my Lords journal, but I think he will be more than happy with the outcome. Now that the proof of Potter's death has been seen, I will need to have Hookclaw drain as much as we can from the Potter account in the next year before the Ministry can get their hands on it.' Taking another drink Lucius's face changes from smirk filled to wonder as he puts the glass down and pulls up his left sleeve, discovering the dark mark in all its glory. 'My Lord returns, this day just keeps getting bet .. ' cut off in mind thought as pain equal to several Cruciatus Curses hits him at once. "Ugh!!! But master, what have I done!" Lucius screams as he falls from his chair rolling on the ground in agony as he continue to cry out in pain. 

Moments later Narcissa, in her sleeping gown enters the study to see why her husband is screaming in pain. "Lucius what is happening?" Narcissa cries out.

"Don't know ... Can't .. Think ... the pain." and then Lucius freezes in place and his body glows an eerie green, then the glow seems to drain into the dark mark completely, before the dark mark once again fades away and Lucius passes out.

"Lucius, wake up!" as Narcissa shakes her husband to no avail, she takes out her wand and casts "Enervate" which hits Lucius but again does not wake him. Quickly thinking and changing her gown into presentable robes, she grabs hold of her husband and with a twist and a crack both disappear.

 

[Azkaban, Sunday Late Night]

Cries of excruciating pain can be heard from some forty or so cells on the floors hosting many know death eaters, such as, but not limited to, all three of the Lestrange cells, as well as the Dolohov, Yaxley and Carrow cells, before an eerie green light is seen coming from each of the cells and then only silence can be heard.

 

[Hogwarts, Dungeons, Severus Snape Private Chambers, Sunday Late Night]

Severus is looking at a wizarding photo of himself and Lily Evans from their second year at Hogwarts, with what for him would be a referred to as a distressing face, it is hard to tell. 'I failed Lily, I promised I would protect him, but never got the chance. Too much like Potter and Black, always getting into trouble, this time it got him killed, please forgive me.' Severus thought to himself, before dropping the photo violently and grabbing his left forearm in pain. "Bloody Hell! what was that!" Severus cried out pulling up his sleeve to a the shock of the dark mark once again being visible. "The Dark Lord has returned, I need to tell Albus ... " as he gets up to head toward the headmaster but is stop short as he falls to the ground in pain. Not crying out as he uses his occlumency to block out the pain, but just barely. He struggles to the fireplace and throws a handful of floo powder in but his shields fail and he cries out in pain. Before he passes out he sees his body is radiating an eerie green light and the pain is magnified several times as the light is sucked into the dark mark, and then the dark mark fades once again, just as Severus Snape passes out completely.

 

[Durmstrang Institute, Headmaster Igor Karkaroff chambers, Sunday Late Night]

Karkaroff is sleeping, when he suddenly sits straight up from his bed, and grabs his arm and screams. For the first time in the past twelve years he regrets making his chambers soundproof as he tries to get up and make it to the door but is overwhelmed by pain, his body is then encased in the same eerie green light as the others, then as it is sucked into the dark mark, and the dark mark fades once again, the headmaster passes out on the floor next to his bed.

 

[Ministry of Magic, Department of Mysteries, chambers of Augustus Rookwood, Sunday Late Night]

Rockwood was one of the lucky ones having decided to use a sleeping potion so he could get a good night's rest, as he never woke during the rise of the dark mark, did not wake as his body thrashed around on his bed in pain, or the increase in pain as the light encased his body and drained into the dark mark, before the dark mark faded, unfortunately for Rockwood it still happened. Would he be feeling that in the morning?

 

[Hogwarts, 2nd years Gryffindor Bed Chambers, Sunday Late Night]

Ron Weasley, Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom, and Seamus Finnigan are awoken to the near deafening screeches coming from Ron's rat, Scabbers. 

"Ron shut that ruddy thing up or get rid of it, we're trying to sleep!" Seamus screamed as he was woken up and looked toward Ron's bed. 

"What's the problem? What the bloody hell!" was added by Ron Weasley himself as the lights in the room are turned on by Neville, and all the boys see Ron's rat stretching and contorting into a short, pudgy, stocky weasel of a man, as he rolled around on the floor in between Ron's and what use to be Harry's bed.

"It's can't be!" Neville exclaimed while squinting at the light.

"What?" Dean asked.

"It looks like... Peter Pettigrew, but he died twelve years ago, he was killed by Sirius Black." Neville answers as he searches quickly for his wand. "Someone go get McGonagall and the other teachers." Neville called out. Dean nods his head and runs from the room and the other two students grab their wands and all three back up toward the door, while keeping their wands trained on the screaming form of Pettigrew.

"What is that?" Ron asks, scared out of his wits as Pettigrew screams louder and is encased in an eerie green light.

"I don't know, but just don't touch him." a frightened Neville answers, while trying to ignore the screaming.

As the green light starts to pull toward Pettigrew's left forearm, McGonagall arrives. "Now what is the cause of all this ... Merlin helps us is that Peter Pettigrew?!" McGonagall cries out as she trains her wand on the screaming man as the last of the light disappears and Peter collapses on the ground unconscious. "Petrificus Totalus" Minerva casts as Peter's body is locked in a full body bind, as Dumbledore, Flitwick, Madam Pomfrey, and Sinistra arrive on the scene with Dean Thomas.

"God heavens, is that Peter Pettigrew, I thought he was dead ?" Professor Sinistra exclaims.

"That is what I thought as well, but the evidence seems to be to the contrary. Albus how is this possible, he was killed by Sirius Black the night the Potter's were betrayed." Minerva asks.

"I do not know, but they did only find a finger when he was killed, so this could be Peter Pettigrew, but where has he been hiding and why?" Albus answered, not liking this discovery at all. If this was in fact Peter which he believed it was, than an inquiry of Sirius Black's case would most certainly be called. Next questions of why Sirius was never given a trial or why he was never questioned would pop up, and a trial would be ordered. When found innocent, Sirius would then be released. Even worse Sirius would most likely force the reading of the Potter will, and since Harry was gone this would leave Sirius in control of the Potter fortune, even if for only a year and he feared what might be discover, if and when Sirius called for an audit.

"Whoever he is, he is trespassing on school property, and somehow was able to avoid detection and reach the boys sleeping quarters, I will keep him restrained in the medical ward as you contact the Aurors." Madam Pomfrey stated as she quickly levitated the still unconscious body of Pettigrew out of the bed chambers.

"I'll call the Aurors right away as well as Amelia Bones, she will want to question him before having him moved to the Ministry lockup." Minerva states as she storms out of the room, before a bewildered Dumbledore can get his bearings and starts after her, only to be stopped by a question.

"Headmaster, who was that and why did he hide out as Scabbers?" Ron asked.

"Scabbers? " Dumbledore asked quite shocked at this news.

"Yeah, we were woken to Scabbers screeching and when Neville turned on the lights, we watched as Scabbers stretched and turned into that man. He continued to scream and thrash about on the floor until Professor McGonagall arrived, he then passed out and the professor hit him with a spell, and then you arrived." Ron quickly explained not realizing how fast he was talking or the fact that he did it in one breath.

"This is the same Scabber's your brother Percy brought to school ?" Dumbledore asked, finding the fact that he never discovered this during all this time a bit disturbing as he thought himself very observant, and somehow had missed this for years.

"Yeah he gave him to me, last year when I started Hogwarts." Ron answered back.

Thinking for a moment, "We will discover who and why as well as many other things in the morning, I will have to contact your parents and wake Percy so they can answer questions as well. Now if you will excuse me, I will be expecting Madam Bones will want to start first thing." and Dumbledore leaves thinking 'Now that I have been delayed from Minerva contacting her, damn this could cause so much trouble'

 

[Crouch Residence, locked room in the lower level of the house]

The room contained a bed that looked slept in, but with nothing else of note. Well nothing of note to the naked eye, but the bed actually held one Bartemius Crouch Jr, which had been confined to the bed and covered by an invisibility clock. That was until he started crying out, first in joy about his dead masters return, only seconds later was the joy turned to anguish as the pain started to become too intense and quickly the eerie light surrounded his bed.

"Master Crouch what be the matter? Winky helps you." the little house elf pops into the room and pulls back the invisibility cloak to witness the eerie green light being sucked into the ugly dark mark on her younger masters arm, before he passes out and the mark fades. Shocked for a second, then she approached the still boy and made sure he was breathing, "Winky's get master Crouch right away!" and popped away again.

 

[St Mungo's Hospital, private room]

Lucius Malfoy lies on the bed still passed out, as the healer is talking to Narcissa Malfoy.

"What do you mean he is a muggle?! I will have you know this is Lucius Malfoy, as in Lord Malfoy and you will do something for him now!" Narcissa stated pointedly, "If you can't help him, find me someone who can." she finished

" Lady Malfoy , this may in fact be Lord Malfoy, but as I told you all of our test state his magic core strength is below squib, which classifies him a muggle. Whatever happened reduced his core to that point and his levels have not raised since he was brought in. As you had demanded the best, and as I am the head healer, there is no one better on staff to check your husband out. I have conferred with the healer that initially ran the scans, and I ran them twice myself, all three readings were the same." the healer explained for the second time.

"Well, how do we fix this? We don't care what it cost, bring in specialist from wherever, but get this fixed!" Narcissa exclaims. 

"I have a specialist in core damage coming in this afternoon, but I explained to him the findings and he did not sound hopeful. You see the core itself does not appear damaged, it just seems to have been reduced in size and capacity to what would represent a muggle." the healer continued to explain.

With a deadly glare in her eyes, Narcissa states "This information does not leave this room, do you understand me... Bring in whoever you need, but the idea that Lucius Malfoy is a muggle, while absurd must not spread outside this room. No matter the cost, this situation will be corrected. Do you understand me?"  
"Yes Lady Malfoy, we will of course keep this information to those that need it only" the doctor states as he leaves to make sure the information had not spread yet.

'If this is true, we are ruined, House Malfoy cannot be run by a muggle. If they pass control back to the French Malfoi family we will be left with nothing. As Draco is underage, he will not be able to claim the Head of House and the Malfoi's are a patriarchal family so I will be stripped of my Ladyship and left with nothing.' Narcissa thought to herself. 

 

[Chamber of Secrets, Early Monday Morning]

Floran had gathered Harry into her arms as soon as the magic surrounding him had dissipated and fallen asleep leaning against a pillar. Several hours later, even while sleeping, she was still holding her bonded tightly.

Harry started to move slightly as he raised his hand to his head, 'Alright now I know what getting hit by the Knight Bus feels like... " quickly looking over his shoulder, he realized he was lying on Floran so he moved to sit up while trying not to wake her. Unfortunately he failed at both as Floran had wrapped herself pretty tightly around Harry and he ended up stumbling out of her embrace, while rolling her along with himself.

"What! . . Ugh! . . " Floran screamed as she was woken and quickly smashed as Harry fell back onto her after she rolled with him, then seeing why she was woken up she screamed, "HARRY!" and grabbed him and held on for dear life.

"Air, still need air!" Harry responded trying to lighten the mood a bit, as Floran relaxed her grip he quickly added to head off the screaming he knew was coming, "Honey, I'm back." adding a big smile as he tried to back away.

"I'M BACK! NEED AIR! OF ALL THE CRAZY ASS STUNTS YOU HAVE PULLED, AND I NOW KNOW THEM ALL, THIS TOPS THEM! OH YEAH " "Don't worry, I have a feeling Chimedis is right on this, I feel it!", WELL ARE YOU STILL FEELING IT? or HOW ABOUT THIS?!" as she whacked him on the back of the head, "DID YOU FEEL THAT? I WAS SCARED TO DEATH HERE and I'M IMMORITAL OR I USE TO BE OR STILL MIGHT BE, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!" Floran screamed at the top of her lungs.

"I'm sorry! The way your grandfather explained it, I don't think this is how it was supposed to work. I sort of adlibbed a little at the end and I think I added too much power." Harry explained realizing this was not the right thing to say as she seemed to get madder as he was talking.

"YOU ADLIBBED? ON A SPELL YOU HAD NEVER TRIED BEFORE? HOW DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE? " Floran screamed now in a huff.

'She is cute when she is mad... So not the time to think that', Harry thought to himself, "The spell seemed to be working, but toward the middle it seemed as something was holding back in the flow, like it was trying to pull back what I had taken, I thought it might be the other parts of Voldemort joining the fight, so I added more power and pulled back hard. All the sudden it was like a damn broke and more and more power, then titles, then families and family information came pouring through. I still have not got it all sorted and I have the phoenix trained mind sorting thing going for me and there is still more to be sorted. Either Voldemort was WAY more powerful than we thought, or maybe he had been casting the Praedia Bellica spell on his fallen victims and became more power by claiming all the extra head of family's magic. Either way, I received much more than I anticipated, I AM sorry for worrying you like that." Harry said apologizing in the best sorry tone he could muster.

"OH NO! You are so in the proverbial doghouse on this one. If I had known that it was safe to transport out with you in that condition I would have dropped you in the lake!" Floran explained letting Harry know this was going to take so much more than an 'I'm Sorry.'

Knowing she was right, but also feeling he had done what needed done, Harry did what most men will do when they are wrong he stupidly fired back. "Right, okay bad me for listening to your grandfather, which you told me to learn from, about something MERLIN made up, that just might help us in the future, so I don't have to spend an eternity, that is if I inherited the phoenix immortality, being chased by an immortal Dark Lord that wants to kill me and eventually you. From now on, I will do nothing, my friends and family will be killed, innocent lives will be lost, but I will hide and make no effort to avenge my parents, or any of the shit that has been done to me or them, but I will be safe, that is until he finds me and tortures me for eternity, but hey who cares." Harry spieled out as he waved his hand widely about.

"WHAT! Now you are just being ridiculous, I have seen experimental magic being tested, Katrina use to work on new spells all the time, as you know, but she did it safely. I don't want you to ignore Voldemort, but taking unnecessary risks with spells you don't know well, is foolish. We should have gone to Gringotts got the information from Merlin's vault, you could have read his journal entries on the spell and come back with at least an idea of what you were doing!" Floran fired back as you could almost see smoke rising from her she was so pissed.

"What... Well... But... Now you bring it up. Where was this idea when I was preparing to cast the spell? Hmm. All you said was " Just be as careful as possible, we just bonded and I would like to get to know you better." nothing about going to Gringotts first." Harry asked back realizing that made more sense, granted he was told to do it as soon as possible, but he was also told to go to Gringotts as soon as possible, he had just done it in the order it presented itself instead of thinking it through.

"Well I sort of thought of it after you passed out, but you were is such a rush, with the extra power and wanting to get it done." Floran answered back, just as her stomach growled again, and she was sure she heard Harry's do the same as she looked at him.

In fact she had heard his stomach growl almost in response to hers, "Right, ok let's stop this conversation for now, we need to get to Gringotts, we need to get something to eat, and of course we need to let everyone know we are back... Actually we need to let them know I'm back... I would rather let them think Fawkes died saving me, so Albus does not try anything with you... Did you think of a name when I was passed out?" Harry asked calmly trying to bring the conversation back under control, "and why can't you go by Floran?" asking as an afterthought as he had never heard the answer.

"No I was too worried about you to think up on, and to answer your question, phoenixes do not go by their real names, even with companions in this realm, so that when we pass on and return home, no one can try to summon us back from the realm." Floran explained.

"That makes sense, can you think how many people would have tried to summon Chimedis if they would have know that Archimedes was actually a phoenix.." Harry responded.

"Yeah, he has mentioned that several times as phoenixes left to visit different realm. You will need to work a name out for your phoenix form, that is if you have one." Floran answered back.

"Right well I guess we can figure that out right now. Let's see, if I focus on the memory of how you felt changing back from being human the first time, and try to picture my phoenix form, I should be able to ....." Harry is cut off as a tone of phoenix song ends his statement as Floran whipped her head up to look back in Harry's direction, only to find what had to be the largest phoenix she had ever seen, and then she stopped and her mouth dropped open in shock.

'Harry, it that you? Of course it's you who else would it be' Floran sent.

'Yeah, hold on a second, let's see if I can reverse this.' and as he sent that, the phoenix form reshaped into Harry Potter. "Well, how did I look?" Harry asks, as if this was something he did every day.

"Ah Harry you might want to conjure a mirror and look for yourself, as I have something I want to explain to you about your form." Floran stated with her voice still full of awe.

"Okay, is this something bad?" Harry asked as he waved his hand and a full size mirror appears.

"No, not bad exactly, just surprising, and you will want to make that mirror wider." Floran stated.

"Alright, now you have me curious." doubling the mirror width at the same time as he retook his phoenix form, and looked in the mirror, shocked at what he was seeing. A white phoenix easily twice the size of Sorlan, with blue/green tipped wings, and a band of red/orange feathers around his neck about three inches thick was looking back at him. 'Wow, now that is impressive.' he thought to himself and then turned to Floran, 'Okay now please explain.' he sent.

Still in shock Floran walked next to Harry and started, 'First you are the largest phoenix I ever heard of, my father was said to be one of the largest in phoenix history and you are at least twice the size of him, the blue and green tips to you wings denotes you as a grand phoenix, which is supposed to be another legend, as our history states the very first phoenix had these markings, be none since. And finally this band of feathers her, as she pointed to the red feathers, these denote leadership, and the orange feathers denote you are bonded. If and when you go back to the realm you would be offered fathers place as head of the council. Boy is he going to be glad he did not give you too hard a time when he finds out. Of course this also explains how you where able to master all of the phoenix abilities so well.' Floran explained

'Great another group of beings that will bow to me for something I did not do. If the wizarding world was not bad enough. Now if I have the orange feather ring to denote our bonding, does that mean your coat has changed as well?' Harry asked back.

'I don't know I have not changed in to my phoenix form since we got back and completed the bonding. I looked normal before, let's find out.' Floran answered as she changed form, but when she looked back into the mirror she was shock to find her coat had changed to white, with a orange band around her neck and red tips to her wings. She had also slightly increased in size and seemed to be just the right size to be Harry's bonded. As she looked at herself Harry moved next to her and opened his wings and closed one around her, proving she had been right, she fit perfectly into the pocket of space of his wing.

'I guess we both have changed, does the red tips mean you have become a Grand phoenix as well?'' Harry asked.

'No the red tips on my wings, denotes I am bonded to a leadership class phoenix. Only the blue/green denotes a grand phoenix as they are not colours found on any other phoenix.' Floran explained.

Taking human form again, Harry asked, "Okay so you are bonded to a grand phoenix, and you are white with red tips since I am of the leadership class, you have a sharp and fiery temper, no pun intended and you are married to a Potter. Hmm, so let's see for a human name, how do you like, Rosa Ignis, which of course will change once the bonding is recorded, I think you will have a choice of last names, but I was thinking of Rosa Emrys nee Ignis, as to honour your connection to Merlin though your grandfather. What do you think?" Harry asked watching Floran retake human form and think it over..

"I think I like it, but how did you come up with that? And what do you mean by fiery temper ?" Floran asked.

Chuckling slightly "I rest my case. As for the name, my mother was Lily named after a flower as well as my aunt but we won't go there, your real name Floran in close to Flora another type of flower. You have a temper, which you inherited from me.... Sorry about that. You said the bonding is as good as a marriage, and as a phoenix you are of the light. So Rosa I got from the Latin word for Rose, and Igni is Latin for fire, so Rosa Igni or Rose of Fire, but Igni is a little rough sounding so I added the s to soften in a bit, while not proper Latin the words still deliver the inferred meaning. I have no idea how I know all the Latin all the sudden, but the name still works.'

"I like it, and I like the idea of Emrys as well. I think grandfather will be pleased. As for the Latin, you must have developed the phoenix gift of tongues when you took your full phoenix form. You may have inherited additional abilities, even I don't know since as I said there has only ever been one grand phoenix before. Now, do you have any ideas for my phoenix name, as I am still thinking of something for yours" Floran asked.

"Let me think.... How about ... Jasmine" Harry suggested.

"Not a fan of that one, try again." Floran answered back

"Okay how about something other than a flower, what do you think of using Helena, to honour your first witch? I know how much you miss her, in a way so do I now." Harry asked.

"Helena... definitely female sounding no more confusion there, and I do miss her, yes I think that will work nicely. I just realized I never got to pick my names before this is kind of fun, but once we pick yours we have to go, I am starving, and who knows how long things will take at Gringotts." Floran responded. "Now for your phoenix name, I was thinking of Amentis"

"Amentis, it sounds familiar.... Wait doesn't that mean something like, crazy or insane?" Harry asked 

"Yes, yes it does, I figured based on your history of running in without thinking, both before and of late, it was a fitting name." Floran answered while laughing at Harry's quickly frowning face.

"Very funny. I'm glad I asked I almost took it. Maybe I should come up with my own." Harry fired back.

"No.. I'm sorry, I just needed to get that off my mind. How about Attonitus, it means lightning or thunderstruck, I figured since you were known for that scar, you can use this to throw it back in their faces, and since it is derived from another word, they won't understand the reference, at least not right away. Not to mention grandfather sort of referred to you as lightning. This is because he noticed when you are in a hurry or excited and you flame travel it creates a bright white light flash instead of the normal flames you create when you are not in such a rush.

"While I do not like thinking of the scar, as it reminded me of when my parents died, the explanation of the flame travel and the fact that it can mean thunderstruck or awed, makes it the perfect Marauder name, so Attonitus it is. Let's see 'tempus' " as he cast the spell and saw the time was 4:27A, Monday. Remembering from Floran's memories that the earliest Gringotts allows non-goblins in the bank is 5:00A, and only was only for their top clients. He figured this was a perfect time to visit the bank without being seen. "Alright Gringotts doesn't let anyone in before five, that gives about thirty minutes. I figure if we flame directly in to Ragnok's office in our phoenix forms, just in case we should be seen, we should be able to keep the fact I am still alive quiet until we can complete our business. Once that is done I don't care who knows as I figure that the news of my return from the dead will move faster than even we can travel." Harry explained.

"Harry you know Ragnok is not one for surprises? At least I do, so I know you do to." Floran answered back.

"Yes I know, but even goblins respect phoenix, and as you said a grand phoenix is a legend, he should give us the time to explain who we are before he sets off the alarm. Plus if the goblins did not trust phoenixes they would have put up a ward against them. I think this should work." Harry explained back.

"Alright I will go with you on this, as I know the goblins have always treated me with respect the few times Albus had me come with him. But any trouble and it is on your ass, and I go back to calling you Amentis." Floran explained.

"Fine, using your memory of where his office is, we should be able to flame directly in without a problem, so let's go." Harry says before retaking his phoenix form as Floran did the same. 'Alright, ready, good let's go.' as they both flamed out, Floran left a wisp of phoenix fire and Harry left the negative image of a lightning shaped white flash.

...

 

[Gringotts Bank, Ragnok's Office. 4:28AM, Monday Morning]

Ragnok and Griphook were still in the office. Griphook was sleeping with his head against the table he had been working at for the past couple of days, having just finished compounding the list which Ragnok was currently reviewing. Ragnok looking quite worn out, but was reviewing the names of all of the vault that had changed hands in the past six hours.

'I would love to know how he keeps doing this, everything checks out and as far as I can confirm was done without breaking any laws. Isn't that just going to make so many pureblood families SO HAPPY in a couple of hours? But how?' Ragnok thought to himself as he reviewed the materials in front of him. His concentration was thrown by a flash of flame and quick white flash, almost like lightning. Then he was stunned speechless at what he was seeing. He was not alarmed by their presence, as goblins held phoenixes in high regard. They are seen as the pinnacle of good and are seen as a good omen for business and life, plus they are the only physical form that cannot be achieved by spell, animagus or transfiguration, so he knew they were phoenixes. In addition the larger of the phoenixes in front of him, had to be the largest he had ever heard of, furthermore by the markings of his wings, this could very likely be the fabled Grand Phoenix of magical legend. After a minute in which he collected himself, as the phoenixes just looked at him, he started in Gobbledegook, "Welcome to Gringotts, what service can the goblin people provide for you today." As he was saying this Griphook woke up and nearly had a heart attack at what he was seeing, he quickly recovered and walked up next to Director Ragnok as he quickly tried to straighten up his appearance for their honoured guests.

As Griphook takes his place, both phoenixes changed into their human forms, as Harry answered back to Director Ragnok in flawless Gobbledegook, but with a whimsical quality to his voice, "Besides helping me claim my heritages, something to eat for my wife and I would be most appreciated..." Harry could not help but look happily surprised as Griphook passed out, and Ragnok seemed unresponsively stunned. He turned to Rosa and said "Too much? I think I might have broke them."

"Too much.." as she hit him on the back of the head with a surprising loud THWACK!, "You Think!" Rosa answered back 

...


	13. Chapter 13

[Gringotts Bank, Ragnok's Office. 4:29AM, Monday Morning]

Harry waved his hand toward the fallen form of Griphook, and casted a wordless 'Enervate' to wake the fallen goblin, as he took in both of their worn appearances, "Are you alright there Griphook? I did not mean for our arrival to be that big of a shock." Harry stated. 

Quickly Griphook snapped his head toward Harry, but before he can say anything Ragnok recovered and interrupted, "Who in the name of Gringotts do you think you are? You do understand that you just single handedly dishonored the treaty of 1434, and this trespass onto Goblin territory can be seen as a declaration of war between wizards and the Goblin people?" Ragnok cried out as he moved toward the weapons on the near wall.

Quickly reviewing the information he received from Floran and Chimedis, Harry answered back with a small smile, "Hmm, who do I think I am? I think I am Lord Harry James Potter-Emrys, and this is my wife Rosa Emrys nee Ignis. As the heir to the Emrys family, I think, I am not bound by the treaty of 1434, in fact I know I am not bound by any of the Wizard/Goblin treaties. In fact, since I know the Emrys family were named as Goblin Friends, and are owners of the only 10% of Gringotts stock not controlled by goblins, I also know I'm not barred from doing magic within Gringotts" as he waved his hands around the room, all the weapons vanished including the one in Ragnok's hand, "Furthermore, since the Goblin pact of 410 stated that no goblin, even the Goblin chief could own more than 5% of Gringotts stock, and as the cost of the stock is so high it keeps most goblins from owning more than 1%, I believe I am THE majority stock holder of Gringotts. I would think it would not be wise for our future business relationship to be started" as the weapons reappear in a pile behind him, "with me having to call on a council vote for attacking the majority stock holder without even verifying his intentions and identity. What do you think?" Harry finished looking back at Ragnok.

Shocked again, by both the accuracy of his information and the casual display of wandless magic from the wizard in front of him, Ragnok quickly thought to himself, 'If this is Lord Potter-Emrys, I am glad I didn't throw that axe, he is correct that the Emrys family line are Goblin Friends and as such are protected, my attack just might have been my last. That is if he did not kill me first. ', and quickly answered, "Yes, well I believe you are right, that it would definitely not have been the best way for our business relationship to start. However, since you are claiming to be Lord and Lady Potter-Emrys, and it is general knowledge that Lord Potter died three days ago, I would expect you would not have a problem with us verifying this information, before we continue?"

"Of course, I would expect nothing less. I would never expect you to have even turn over information or access to the Potter vaults to anyone without proof of their legal right to have access to them. I can only image the even higher security measures that have been taken to secure access to the Emrys vault." Harry stated this while he thought, 'Let's see if they know of the theft from the Potter vaults, and if they do, if they will admit to it. I wonder if they know about the theft, have they figured out it is Dumbledore?', as he waved at the weapons and they vanish again to reappear where they once were, including the one in Ragnok's hand. Ragnok quickly returned it to the wall.

"..Ah yes, of course. Now before I can even confirm the existence of any vaults, I will need to confirm your claims, via the rite of blood inheritance test." Ragnok signaled to Griphook, which went to cupboard again the far wall, and removed a small bowl, a dagger and a small vial of a light blue potion. He then placed the bowl on a table between Ragnok and Harry. He then quickly emptied the vial into the bowl and handed the dagger, hilt first to Harry. "You will need to add three drops of your blood, you must give them willingly for the test to be valid." Griphook explained.

Harry took the knife and quickly looked it over with his enhanced sight, finding nothing out of order, he answered back, "Of course.", he then pierced his finger with the tip of the dagger and squeezed three drops of blood into the bowl as he watch his finger heal. He then passed the dagger, hilt first back to Griphook. As Griphook took the dagger back the potion in the bowl started to glow brightly and started to change colors from light blue, then green, then red, then gold, white, gold again, dark blue, black, grey, back to white, red, orange, and then settled back to the light blue it started.

Having caught the startled look on both the goblins faces, Harry asked, "I take it that was not a normal reaction?"

Ragnok, looked back toward Harry and his companion, "Correct, I can't remember every having seen that type of reaction in all the time I have been conducting this test. However since the potion has returned to the correct color we can proceed." Ragnok explained. He then took the bowl and carried to a contraption behind his desk and poured the contents into a funnel on the unit. The device glowed with the same bright light blue color as a parchment came out of the bottom, once the parchment was two feet long it was cut. Ragnok went to pick it up, but stopped when another parchment started coming from the machine. Once again at the two foot mark the paper was cut and another parchment started to come out to another shocked look from the goblins. The machine finally came to a stop at eleven two foot parchment sheets, leaving only two inches remaining on the last page. Ragnok quickly scanned the multiple pages, twice before quickly staring at his two guests with an even more shocked look on this face. "Yes... I would like to apologize for my earlier actions, to the both of you Lord and Lady Potter-Emrys. At that time, I did not know who you were and you had just broken a universal law of magic, so I was acting on what information I had. Lord Potter-Emrys you are correct, in that it is against Gringotts law to attack a significant shareholder, unless they have been proven guilty of violating goblin law. I would hope that my earlier actions would not hurt the long standing relationship between Gringotts and your families." Ragnok said humbly.

Griphook was shocked, he had never heard the director admit to being wrong in this fashion. Additionally, we was confused by the appearance of Lord Potter-Emrys, last year when he had taken him to his vault, he had been less than your typical student, small for his age, underweight from what the goblin was use to seeing, and mostly shy. The young lord in front of him was none of these things, and if Griphook had to take a guess, he would place Lord Potter-Emrys at approximately sixteen years of age, maybe older, even though the file said he was twelve going on thirteen.

Noticing Griphook's stare, Harry asked, "Something I can explain to you Griphook?"

Snapping out of his stupor, "Ah, yes Lord Potter-Emrys, I was noticing the many changes you have undergone since I last saw you. According to your file you are only twelve, but you look much older. Excuse my bluntness, but you are in much better shape than you were last year when we met, you are much taller, you have filled out, you are no longer wearing glasses and I have never heard of a twelve year old that does wandless magic." Griphook explained.

Laughing at the statement, Harry answered "Yes, you seem to have noticed the majority of them Griphook. I am somewhat surprised that you remember that much information from my visit last year. But I guess I shouldn't be, as goblins are trained to be observant. I think I will wait to explain everything once we have reviewed the accounts and completed any heritage rites that are still needed."

Ragnok started again, "Yes there are a few rites that will need to be completed to make complete the heritage requirements. However since I expect this.", holding up the eleven pages of parchment, "is going to take the rest of the day, at least, and as your second request was to get something to eat, why don't we adjourn to my personal conference room and have something to eat first?"

"It would be much appreciated Chief Director Ragnok. It has been quite a while since either of us has had the opportunity to eat. I would request a slightly lighter selection of breakfast foods however, as Rosa does not eat much in the line of meat. Furthermore, I would request the food be brought in first, before we enter, I assume you understand our reasoning behind keeping our presence here quiet until we complete the required heritage rites." Harry explained.

"I understand Lord Potter-Emrys, and please refer to me as Ragnok, as we will be here for some time, and the constant use of Chief Director Ragnok will most likely become tiresome." Ragnok answered back, as he wrote something down and slid the paper into a slot on his desk.

"Then I would request you refer to me as Harry, as I believe from the volume of parchment that machine printed out, that my new full title will be somewhat ridiculously hyphenated and I already find Lord Potter-Emrys long winded, Harry will do just fine. " Looking at Rosa, she smiled and just nodded he acceptance, "My Lady can be address as Rosa, or My Lady whichever you prefer." Harry added.

"Lord Potter-Emrys, I would wish to refrain from referring to either of you by your name until after we go over everything in detail as some matters have come to light on the Potter accounts, and I want to start with those once we finish the Heritage rites." Ragnok explained.

"I understand, however once that is concluded I would hope you would then call me Harry. I believe I have an idea about the matters you have mentioned already." Harry stated back and then looked at Griphook, "that also includes you Griphook. I do apologize for not referring to you by your title earlier, but I am currently unaware of it." Harry added.

"That is unnecessary Lord Potter-Emrys as my title only changed yesterday and has not been made public as of yet. I was just promoted to Account Manager so my title would be Account Manager Griphook, but I would also ask that you and Lady Potter-Emrys continue to refer to me by my name." Griphook responded.

"Thank you, I would like that Griphook, and congratulations on your promotion." Harry answered back.

As they were completing their conversation a piece of paper came back out of the slot on Ragnok's desk, he pulled it out, opened it, read it and turned to Harry. "Our breakfast has been prepared, if you and your wife would follow me." Ragnok stated as he turned toward the doors in the far corner of the room, leading the group into his personal conference room.

...

[St Mungos, private room. Monday morning, 6:00AM]

Narcissa was sitting next to Lucius, still thinking over what was going to happen when suddenly the door opened and a healer and several nurses came in, wearing muggle gloves and masks.

"What is going on here?" Narcissa asked

"We have to move your husband to the quarantine floor, it seems whatever happened to him, happened to several others last night. Currently we have thirteen cases, and they are still coming in. None of the victims have regained consciousness as of yet, but they all have the same damage to their magical cores. I just received an owl stating that there are even cases coming in from Azkaban, but I don't have any numbers yet. Either way this matter will no longer be able to be kept sheltered, as of right now your husband seems to have been the first victim, the Aurors and other healers will be by to ask you and hopefully Lord Malfoy some questions later this morning. Hopefully we can find out what everyone has in common, so we can see if we can determine the cause, and then a possible cure." the Healer explained as the nurses levitated Lucius away. 

"You might want to stand back" the healer added as he pulled a wand and cast "Incendio" at the bed Lucius has been lying on. The bed quickly was engulfed flames and as the ashes hit the floor they disappeared.

"What was that for?" Narcissa asked somewhat surprised that the healer had just destroyed the bed.

"We are not sure this condition is not contagious and as such anything the victims have been in contact will need to either be quarantined or destroyed until we know for sure. As such we are going to need you to stay either with your husband on the quarantine floor or floor two, which we have set-up for family members that have been in contact with the victims. In addition, we are providing you with a change of clothes, as whatever Lord Malfoy may have, might have transferred to your clothing when you brought him in and we want to avoid spreading this to anyone else." Handing Narcissa a standard set of robes and a bag, "Feel free to transfigure them into whatever style you prefer, but we do ask that you do not have a change of clothes brought in from your home until we know the cause. I will wait outside until you change."

Narcissa stared at the plain robes, and quickly entered the connected bathroom to get out of her clothes as quickly as possible. Not really hearing much after the bit that the condition might be contagious. After changing into the robes and transfiguring them into something a bit more stylish she placed her clothes in the bag and then washed her hands twice. She returned to the room and handed the bag of clothes to the doctor. He quickly placed the bag into a medical box just outside the door, there was a quick flash of flame and a small puff of smoke from the box.

"Now if you will follow me. Would you like to go with your husband or go down to floor-two?" the healer asked as he lead Narcissa out of the room. The door closed and a blue light went around the door and the word SEALED appeared across the door.

"I will go ..", quickly thinking about this condition possibly being contagious, Narcissa changed her mind of seeing Lucius, ".. down to the second floor. Please let me know when Lucius regains consciousness." Narcissa answered.

"Of course. If you would like to contact someone, there are medical secure floo connections in rooms 1-4 which are available to all the family members on floor two to make and receive calls, but travel has been restricted for the time being." the healer added as he escorted Lady Malfoy to the second floor.

...

[Hogwarts, Medical Ward, Private Section, Monday Morning, 6:00AM]

Albus, Pomfrey are standing near the bed Severus was passed out on.

"I'm telling you Albus, he needs to be transferred to St. Mungo's. I received an owl not ten minutes ago, explaining his symptoms perfectly. There seems to have been an outbreak of some sort, according to the message, they already have fifteen cases, and they are quarantining all the infected, as well as those that have been in contact with them. That includes you, me, and Filius as we have all been in contact with him. They are sending a med-witch from St Mungos to cover for me until this is cleared up. I would suggest sending a message to Minerva leaving her in charge, as she can't come in here until this matter is settled. A temporary medical area is going to need to be set-up for the remaining couple of days." Pomfrey explained to Albus.

"But you do not understand, I can't leave right now. We have the investigation into the appearance of Mr. Pettigrew, as well as the questioning of the students, and I have yet to finish the plans for the memorial service for Mr. Potter." Albus explained.

"Well this will give you plenty of time to work on it, as of right now. By the authority of Ministry of Magic, Healers division, and the ICW division for public health, I hereby suspend you of all of your titles and positions, pending the outcome of this medical situation. I'm sorry Albus, I have no choice. I will need to suspend Filius as well, as soon as he arrives." Poppy exclaimed.

Looking upset, but understanding he was in a no win situation Albus conceded and sat down. "Fine Poppy. I understand you are only doing what you need to ..." Albus started as Filius entered the ward. "Ah, Filius, you have arrived, I will let Poppy explain what is going on as I send a message to Minerva." Albus stated.

"Yes, I got your message to report here. Why did I have to avoid the students on the way here?" Filius asked.

"Let me explain ..." Poppy started.

...

[Diagon Alley, Newsstand, Monday Morning 6:30AM]

DAILY PROPHET HEADLINE

MAGICAL ILLNESS OUTBREAK !   
or is this an attack by muggleborns and half-bloods!  
by Rita Skeeter

From a confidential source at St. Mungos, it has been confirmed that some fifteen cases of a new undetermined magical ailment have hit some of the wizarding world's finest citizens. The cause of this condition it unknown, the symptoms of this condition seems to include the victims being in a magically induced coma state and the reduction of the wizards magical core to the point that their core strength rates between squib and muggle.   
Since the cause of the infection is unknown and it has been discovered at many different locations, the medical division of the Ministry of Magic is quarantining all victims and those that have been in direct contact with a victim. If you have a family member showing signs of this infection contact St. Mungos right away, and do not touch or allow anyone else to touch the victim.  
The most interesting fact of this outbreak is so far the only common factor of all the victims are that they are all pureblood witches and wizards. Isn't it interesting that a magical illness breaks out that does not only target purebloods but turns them into squibs and muggles. Are pureblood witches and wizards under attack by half-bloods and muggleborns, the evidence seems to point in that direction, only time and the uncovering of the cause of this outbreak will tell.  
Adding credence to the above theory, my source added that the first victim to be admitted with this condition is none other than our own Lord Lucius Malfoy, who we all know was wrongfully accused of being a follower of he-who-should-not-be-named at the end of the last war. A prime target for those not of pureblood, our hearts and prayers go out to the Malfoy family in their time of need.  
So readers, heed caution and stay indoors and away from the infected. Honestly, can you think of anything worse than being reduced to a squib or even a muggle... Keep and eye on any half-bloods and muggleborns nearby and don't accept anything from them until the truth comes out.

p3 the hard work and generosity of the Malfoy family.  
p6 Squibs/Muggles what do they really bring to our society.  
p7 St Mungos quarantine procedures.

...

[Hogwarts, Great Hall, Monday Morning, 8:00AM]

Students were eating breakfast when the owls start arriving delivering the daily news. Quickly a rush of whispers fill the great hall. Minerva just has a chance to look as the headline when the noise started.

"I knew it, allowing muggleborns and half-bloods to learn magic has doomed us all!" was heard from a girls voice from the Slytherin table, but by whom no one was sure.

"Yeah, they used their freaky science to target purebloods so they can take over." this was heard from the direction of the Ravenclaw table as many purebloods throughout the hall nodded their heads.

Before Minerva could even stand to calm everyone down, as she had skimmed the article quickly, she could see the divisions being formed, pureblood witches and wizards either were moving away from their friends and classmates or were getting up and leaving the hall altogether. Quickly making a decision she really did not want to, but for the safety of the school she stood and cast "Sonorus" on herself.

"STOP!" Minerva cried out. 

All the students stopped and looked at the head table.

"Now, before you rip each other apart, allow me to point out a few flaws with the article in the Daily Prophet. First this outbreak is not only targeting purebloods, I personally know of three half-bloods that have been diagnosed already, and as of this morning St Mungos was still receiving victims, which means most likely there will be more half-bloods and possibly muggleborns diagnosed with this condition as well. The guesses of Ms Skeeter are just that, uneducated guesses of someone without all the facts. If she is wrong about this only targeting purebloods, what else did she get wrong. Furthermore, to keep speculation to a minimum, I want it to be known that our own Professor Snape has contracted this condition, while Professor Flitwick, Headmaster Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey are not here they have not come down with the illness, but they have been quarantined due to having been in contact with Professor Snape when he was found this morning.", she paused as the noise level increased, "QUIET!", which did the trick, "A temporary medical ward has been established on the third floor, and will be operated by Healer Josenwell, during the time Madam Pomfrey is away. If you feel ill, or see someone that may be showing signs of this illness, please direct them to Healer Josenwell. Now everyone sit down and finish breakfast. Since there are no classes scheduled today or tomorrow due to the events this past weekend, I would suggest everyone try to relax and remember not to jump to any conclusion about this illness until we hear from St Mungo's or Madam Pomfrey directly. " Minerva concluded, sitting back down and cancelling the spell.

While the murmurs continued and you could see that the muggleborns were still be shunned, Minerva's speech had calmed down the students a bit.

'Now, I just hope there are more half-bloods, other than Severus to make my statement fact before this gets out of hand.' Minerva thought to herself, only now noticing a number of her missing Gryffindors, namely Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley, Miss Weasley, the Weasley twins, Neville Longbottom as well as Hagrid. 'I wonder where everyone is, it is not like Mr. Weasley to miss a meal.' Minerva thought to herself again.

...

[Hogwarts, Hagrid's Hut, Monday Morning, 8:00AM] 

Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred, George, and Neville, had been summoned by Hagrid the night before. It had been right after Hermione had discovered that Hedwig was not in the owlery. This bit of news had sparked a small hope that Harry was still alive somehow. It was pointed out that if Hedwig was Harry's familiar as everyone had assumed, and was still out flying around, maybe, just maybe Harry had somehow survived after all.

Unfortunately for them, their hopes were smashed as soon as they entered Hagrid's Hut, when he explained that he had go to collect Hedwig the night before, at Professor McGonagall's suggestion, before someone tried to steal her to sell off to collectors. There in front of them, in a box that everyone could tell Hagrid must have worked on all night, laid the still body of Hedwig, Harry's familiar. He had thought it was the least he could do for Harry. He planned to ask Dumbledore if he could bury Hedwig at the site of the memorial as soon as it was decided, but thought Harry's friend might have any other ideas. Hagrid seemed surprises that they seemed even sadder about Hedwig than Hagrid thought they would be, he did not realizing that his news had just delivered the final blow to the groups remaining hope that Harry had somehow pulled off another miracle. 

...

[Gringotts, Ragnok's Private Conference Room, Monday Morning, 8:00AM]

A shocked Harry and Rosa, and a slightly shocked Griphook were staring at Ragnok as he had just concluded his first review of the parchments from the Blood Inheritance rite.

"Let me see it I understand this, I am the Head of the Emrys, Le Fay, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Peverell families, I have control of the Hogwarts vault, along with the Potter vaults, as in several, I control sixty-four other vaults, as well as being the Head of another forty-three families that no longer have vaults, and are either now minor houses or were thought to be extinct. Furthermore, due to being the head of all these families, as well as the money from the 10% share of Gringotts I inherited, I now control over 40% of all the gold, silver and other precious stones in Gringotts worldwide?" Harry asked knowing this was already covered but needing confirmation.

"Yes, except you control sixty-seven other vaults, and are mentioned in at least two other wills that have yet to be executed. Furthermore you control slightly over 44% of all the gold, silver and other precious stones in Gringotts worldwide. But essential correct. Now that we have covered that, we have thirty inheritance rites to complete, including some major ones for the Emrys, Le Fay, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Peverell, Potter, Prince, Lestrange, Gaunt, and Malfoy families, as well as the standard claiming of the head of house rites for the remaining one hundred and three families." Ragnok continued as he got up and headed to a side room from the conference table.

"Wait, I understand Gaunt and Slytherin, but how did I end up with Lestrange, and Malfoy, plus who is the Prince family I don't remember the name from anyone at school or history?" Harry asked shocked to hear the names.

"Whatever spell you cast on the remains of your battle with Tom Riddle to claim control of the Gaunt and Slytherin family, somehow included many other well connected families, including but by no means limited to the Malfoy, Lestrange, Parkinson, Rockwood, Nott, and Goyle families. Be glad that family magic will keep them from attacking you directly, I can imagine there are going to be a number of pureblood families, that are not going to be too happy with you after this gets out. Not that they can do much as they no longer own anything unless you give it to them, plus from everything you explained about the spell, you were within you legal rights to cast the spell and claim the rewards. I for one and looking forward to hearing those so called innocent by way of the Imperius curse purebloods, explain how they were forced under the Imperius to freely bind their life, magic, property and wealth to Lord Voldemort since it in turn negates their original defense completely, since this type of bonding could not have been done under Imperius or with any form of intimidation. That would be a memory I would pay you good money to see, since I can guarantee you will have great seats from the Emrys booth. As for the Prince family it was a wealthy old world, pureblood family, unfortunately they were all but wiped out between the Dragon Pox breakout back in 1977, and the last war. The family assets were until recently under the control of the last living member of the family, a half-blood by the last name of Snape." Ragnok explained.

Harry stopped, which in turn stopped everyone else. "Excuse me Ragnok, but are you telling me I am the head of house of one of the families of Professor Snape?" Harry asked.

"Hmm. Yes, that's him. Potion Master Severus Snape, he went into potions after the Dragon Pox breakout in an attempt to find a cure for Dragon Pox to aid in future outbreaks.", quickly scanning the documents in hand, "Yes, you are also head of house for the Snape family, which means you now own the patents on all of his potion breakthroughs, past and future. I believe he made a nice profit from the Wolfsbane potion, as well as royalties on several other very expensive but widely used potions, which you will continue to make money from." Ragnok smiled and then continued, "Don't feel too bad about this matter however, as he is listed in the matters we have to discuss about the Potter accounts, and you would most likely have ended up with the rights & royalties anyway. Now if we can continue, the thirty inheritance tests will take may hours to complete, I would suggest doing the first ten major ones first, we will take a break for lunch somewhere in between them, and then we can tackle the twenty standard ones after dinner if we have the time. I would expect you will sleep for anywhere from eight to twelve hours afterwards. I am having a private set of rooms set-up for you two while we are doing the rites. Hopefully, in the morning we can complete the remaining head of house rites, which should go fairly quickly. Afterward we can complete the general review, and discuss the Potter accounts in length, before you leave tomorrow evening." Ragnok continued on into the ritual room, speaking like he did this every day.

"Tomorrow evening? " Harry asked

"At the earliest." Ragnok replied, and then continued, "Based on the last time I performed an ancient account rite, which was for a single account, the rite itself took ten minutes, but the wizard was unconscious for ten hours afterwards. Based on the power you said you absorbed during the spell you cast on Riddle's remains, I am assuming you should be able to handle the rites much better. Now the amount of power you receive and level of discomfort you will endure, is unknown to even me, as these vaults have been sealed for centuries, so it could take longer. I have already had pain and rejuvenation brought up to help you get through as many rites as you can during each session." 

"This is payback for the work you two have had to do for the past three days isn't it?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Of course not, you asked for our help, so you can claim your heritages. Since you are claiming some of the oldest and most powerful houses, it is only a bonus that we get to watch you endure the claiming rites." Ragnok said with a grin. "Now we will need go to the lowest level to conduct your first eight rites, as they are all keyed to their individual vaults. I have had the level cleared and we will take my personal lift down instead of having to travel by vault cart." Ragnok explained noticing Harry seemed disappointed.

...


	14. Chapter 14

[Gringotts, Lowest Vault Floor, The Emry’s Vault]

Harry, Ragnok, Griphook, and Rosa are standing just outside the massive vault door of the Emry’s vault.

“Now Harry, the original 13 vaults on this floor are unlike any others at Gringotts, they were enchanted by the original members of the Wizard’s council themselves, and the level of enchantments on them have never been duplicated since. In addition the first seven vaults are even more powerful than the other six combined. Now vaults 1-7 have not been opened or accessed in hundreds of years, and the only activity on this floor is at the far end where vaults 8-13 are positioned. I mentioned this as even I have no idea what the inheritance ritual will entail, so I cannot advise you further on what to expect.” Ragnok explained as he pointed the vaults out.

“Out of curiosity, you explained I own vaults 1-8, and 11, who owns 9, 10, 12 and 13” Harry asked.

Ragnok answered back, “I’m sorry Harry, but customer privacy is one of our core believes, if you remember I would not even confirm your vaults existed until I confirm you were who you claimed to be. Why did you ask, if I may be so bold?”

“Well as you said I have fifty some vaults other than these nine, I figured if these vaults where not being used much, I might be able to convince the owners to sell me the vaults and I could consolidate the smaller vaults elsewhere here on to one floor.” Harry answered back.

“Unfortunately, even if the other vault holds agreed, vault 13 has not been opened or accessed in many centuries, and as such a deal could not be brokered for it. Plus as I explained these vaults are of the highest security and I do not believe the others would accept anything less, but if you would like, I will make the inquires for you.” Ragnok replied.

“Why not, the worst they can say is no, and as you said vault 13 has not been used in a long time, so if I had the others, there would be little chance of anything happening from there. If you don’t mind, let me know what they say.” Harry answered back.

Opening a very old tome, Ragnok looked down and then pointed to the far side of the vault door. “According to this, to claim the vault and the heritage involved you need to place your hand on the palm print there. The vault will take a sample of blood from your hand and if it passes the ritual will begin. It is also noted here that to date only six people have tried to access this vault, all have failed, now that was before the blood sampling measures were started.” Ragnok instructed.

Moving to the far side and finding the hand print, Harry went to put his hand on the make and paused, “Ragnok, does that book say what happened during the ritual to the other six?” Harry asked.

“No, they failed the initial blood test and were found unworthy.” Ragnok answered.

“And?” Harry prompted.

“And they died. If you fail a ritual, while trying to claim one of these vaults, there is only one outcome. Back in the old days, anyone that claimed they were an heir to any of these vaults were escorted down and given an opportunity to claim the vault. As you might guess we lost a number of vault holders to this, which is why the blood sampling measures were put in to effect. In addition, everyone who failed and died, forfeited their own vaults into the ones they attempted to enter, so the exact contents of these vaults is not entirely clear. “ Ragnok explained.

“Right… So if for some reason I am not found worthy, than this will be a very short ritual… “ Harry stated.

“Harry, please be careful.” Rosa said fearful for his safety.

Looking back at his wife, “Don’t worry, we already passed the blood sampling, this should just be the inheritance portion.” Harry said back.

“SHOULD, is what I am worried about” Rosa answered back.

“Right. Here goes..” Harry stated. 

He put his hand into the handprint impression, he felt a pin prick to the center of his hand, and then there was a bright flash of light and he found himself in a large cavern like room, in front of him was a man. He looked to be in his fifties, but with wizards you never know, with short greyish white beard, and long dark gray hair. On his hip could be seen a sword hilt and he leaned slightly on a long intricately carved wooden staff. His face held a look of curiosity and before Harry could ask anything the man said, “Now explained to me how I have an heir, when I never had any children, hmm?”

Harry quickly processed what he was see, and more importantly whom he was seeing, and answered back with a slight chuckle, “Chimedis was right, with the exception of the gray hair, history has your appearance completely wrong.”, seeing the man’s eyebrows raise at Chimedis’s name Harry continued, “As for being your heir, I bonded with Chimedis’s granddaughter, and was told by him to come stake my claim as your heir. I am assuming you are the projection of the living memory crystal he told me about.”

A warm smile crossed the man’s face and he responded, “Even before I died, they never seemed to get any portrait of me correct. I’m glad to hear Chimedis survived the severing of our bond, I had hoped he would. I am even happier that he got a chance to have a family, which it seems granted me a family of my own... Let me introduce myself properly, I’m Merlin Emry’s”

“Harry Potter, it is an honor to meet you” Harry Answered back

“So you married his granddaughter you say… just how long has it been since I passed away?” Emry’s questioned.

“Not exactly sure, I know it has been a 1,000 years or more, there are many legends of how or even when you died, and it was not a question I asked Chimedis when we talked.” Harry replied.

“1,000 years !” Emry’s exclaimed, “… well since when I died I figured this gem would never be activated, 1,000 years is better than never I guess. Now let me look at you, I assume if you bonded with his granddaughter you have discovered you can no longer use a focus to do magic?” 

“Yes, luckily Chimedis was able to help me by taking me through the steps he observed, when you were learning about that discovery yourself.” Harry answered while Emry’s was looking at him with a critical eye. “Is something wrong?” Harry asked.

“Your aura has to be the strongest I have ever seen, it already surpasses mine when I was in my prime, but I have never seen an aura that is white and blue, it almost seems you are living energy…” Emrys’ exclaimed.

“Oh, that might be because I had to recharge my core by pulling in energy directly from a lay line.” Harry answered slightly embarrassed with that explanation.

“Excuse me, but that is not possible if you touched a lay line you would have been killed instantly and your body would have burned up instantly.” Emry’s explained

“I have been told that, and don’t get me wrong it bloody well hurt worse than dying from the Basilisk poison and that is saying something. But I couldn’t find another source and I didn’t know better than to grab it, so I did. Somehow, luckily, I survived.” Harry fired back.

“Wait… hold on a second.“ Waving his hand a set of chairs appeared, “Start from the beginning and explain everything up till when you arrived here, including the dying from Basilisk poison bit.” Emry’s stated as he sat down and pointed to Harry to do the same.

Realizing he did not have a choice, Harry started “Well it starts when I was a year old …..”

 

[St. Mungo’s, Quarantine Floor, Second Floor] 

Dumbledore and Flitwick enter the floor and are directed by a medwitch to a waiting area full of people.

“Thank you, do you have any idea when we will be able to leave, I have a number of highly important matters I must see to immediately.” Dumbledore asked the medwitch that had escorted them to this floor, in his best grandfatherly persona.

“I’m sorry Headmaster, but until we can determine if this condition is contagious we have to keep everyone isolated. As was explained upon your arrive there are medically secure floo connections for incoming and outgoing calls only in that section over there. Hopefully this crisis will be over shortly.” the medwitch explained.

“I understand. Has there been any further news on any of the infected, have any of them recovered?” Dumbledore inquired.

“Unfortunately not, and the number of cases continues to grow. We have 48 causes here, and I believe another 17 have been reported outside of the immediate area. In addition, there have now been a confirmed 11 deaths contributed to the infection, however those were at Azkaban so when you factor in the proximity of the Dementors to those with a weak or unstable core, it may not have been the disease that killed them.” The medwitch explained.

“Has any connection to the victims been found?” Dumbledore asked.

“Not as of yet, we originally thought it was only pureblood wizards and witches, but we have a number of half-bloods that have been brought in recently. So far no muggleborns have been reported, but they may not have made it back to the magical world when they came down with it. We currently have someone checking muggle hospitals for any victims. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to get back up front.” the medwitch stated as she started to leave.

“Of course, thank you for the information.” Dumbledore answered then looked down at Flitwick and then started to scan the room. “I believe we might be in here for a while, hopefully Poppy will keep us up to date on Severus.” Dumbledore added.

“At least since she was already exposed, she can continue to work with the victims, as long as she does not show any symptoms. Do you have any theories on what this might be?” Flitwick asked.

“Unfortunately not, I was only informed right before we left and without more information I am in the dark on what could be causing this. I can’t even think of how it is being transmitted as the pattern of the infected seems random… Excuse me for a moment Filius, I believe that is Lady Malfoy, maybe I can get us some information on what has happened.” Dumbledore stated as he made his way toward Lady Malfoy.

“Of course Headmaster, I will ask around to see what I can find as well.” Flitwick responded as he too headed toward a couple people he thought he might know.

Approaching Narcissa, Albus stated, “Lady Malfoy may I join you?” 

Narcissa looked up at the Headmaster and directed him to the chair directly across from her and responded, “Of course Headmaster. What brings you to this dreary place?” 

“Unfortunately Severus was found this morning and Professor Flitwick and I brought him to the infirmary, before the warning was sent out about contact with the infected. If I may ask, how do you find yourself here?” Dumbledore responded.

“I found Lucius late last night and brought him in. Unfortunately I was then told I was unable to leave so I am stuck here waiting for news with the rest.” Narcissa answered while pointing to the other occupants of the floor. “Please keep me informed on Severus, I know Draco would want to know if his godfather is alright.”

“Of course, can you tell me what you may have seen, heard or observed when you found Lucius, and anything you may have been told about this condition? I am trying to see if I can determine a common connection between the infected.” Albus asked.

“Of course, anything I can do to help find a way to correct this situation. I was just heading ….” Narcissa stared her explanation of what had happened.

….

 

[Gringotts, Emry’s Vault]

“… and then I placed my hand on the handprint in the door and I was here…” Harry completed his explanation, somewhat emotionally exhausted having to revive parts of his past he would rather forget.

Emry’s sat reviewing everything he had heard, and while the story seemed unbelievable, and even though he would know if Harry was lying due to the ritual, he already knew Harry was telling the truth, just by the way he told it. 

“Well, the magical world seems to have gone right to hell since I passed on. First off, I have a theory about how you survived grabbing the lay line. Now it is only a theory and you said Floran might have a theory of her own, but here it goes. You said you were in the final stages of your regeneration when this occurred, and this was your first regeneration correct?” Emry’s asked 

“Yes, we came back before the process was complete, which as I explained, caused quite a bit of pain, why?” harry answered back.

“Well my theory might explain, both your survival and your strange aura. Unfortunately if I am right, it is going to cause a slight snag in your inheritance ritual. Let me explain. Your body was trying to complete its first regeneration cycle, which would be the base form for any further regeneration cycles you might endure. At the same time it was processing the improvements you said the council explained. Then all the sudden you add another forgein element to the mix, untainted, pure magical energy. I can only assume the fact that your body was still in flux and was using all available energy to complete your regeneration cycle, it somehow allowed you to incorporate the energy from the lay line into your final form. You said you seemed to have aged again when you woke up, that you were older than the form you had when training with Chimedis and Floran, this additional aging could be from the extra energy being assimilated into your final form. Again this is only a theory based on what you told me.” Emry’s concluded.

Thinking over the theory, Harry could understand the logic behind it, and it made as much sense as anything else he had come up with, but then he focused on what he had said. “What kind of snag would this cause?” Harry asked.

“You see the inheritance ritual will add a portion of my power to your own as the head of the family, in addition I devised the living memory crystal to give my heir more than just my power. You see there are three main types of power we are going to focus on. The first is magical energy, which I already said your levels surpass me in my prime, so the increase your gain from my family magic while still significant will not be as noticeable to you as it would be to a normal wizard. The second is knowledge, and that is where your real inheritance will come into play, you will gain my knowledge of not only magic and the magic world as a whole, but of my love of science and alchemy. Finally there is understanding, all the knowledge in the world is useless unless you have the understanding on how to use it, what it can do, and wisdom to use it wisely, and that is the reason I copied my memories into the crystal. You will relive all of my interactions with magic, other species, other races, my training, experiments, my successes and more importantly my failures in all areas of magic, culture, law, and life. Unfortunately you have not reached you majority, you are on the brink of it now, and as with any wizard you will go through a natural increase in abilities at that point, the problem is the inheritance ritual will kick start it early and you will have to go through it all at once.” Emry’s said with concerned tone.

“Okay and this is bad why? It would seem that we are killing two birds with one stone, I complete the ritual and by reaching my majority I might be able to handle the other ritual’s better.” Harry asked.

“Reaching majority is done over several weeks to gradually allow your body time to handle the adjustment, the problem being that right now we are inside your mind in a separate section created specifically for this ritual. In the hours we have been talking only seconds have passed on the outside world, but by forcing your majority ahead of schedule, you will experience all the changes your body was supposed to go over the next four to six weeks in a matter of minutes. I would expect the pain level will be comparable to when you grab the lay line, and that will be during the time the ritual is forcing even more power and knowledge into your body. It might kill you, it was never supposed to be done on a wizard before his majority, but this ritual can only be done once, so we either continue or you forgo the ritual and move on.” Emry’s explained.

“Right, so if I do not claim this inheritance you go back in the crystal, and if by some chance I die without an heir your knowledge and history will remain locked up until another of Chimedis’s children or grandchildren bond with another human, which has not been done in over 1,000 years or more, and then hope they come to this realm and then come to claim the inheritance. Of course, this is also counting on Gringotts and the wizarding world still being here at that time….. Damn, why is it always me…. Fine let’s do this before I talk myself out of it.” Harry replied.

“Harry, are you sure you understand the risks on this? Once we start there is no going back.” Emry’s explained again.

“Yes, I am sure, with the Legend and this Prophecy hanging over my head, I don’t think passing up this much knowledge is a smart thing to do.” Harry responded.

“Of course I understand, one last question, what other rituals do you have after this one, you said you gained a large number of titles including mine when you were tested, which ones?”

“Well, yours, the Potter vaults, surprisingly enough your nemesis Morgana LaFey’s, Gryffindor’s, Ravenclaw’s, Slytherin’s, Hufflepuff’s, a family by the name of Peverell, and it would seem a vault that is controlled by Hogwarts. Those are the major rituals Ragnok pointed out, he said the remaining 109 other families would be less sever. Of course, less sever to a goblin could me anything.” Harry answered.

“Wait you have to complete over a hundred rituals? If this one doesn’t kill you that many might, try to space them out as much as possible, if you can. What do you mean by my nemesis Morgana LeFay? Morgana was my wife, not my enemy. Of course, if you had ever witness us have a row, it might have seemed that way, but she most definitely was not my enemy.” Emry’s explained.

“But history has her as the first Dark Lady, there are stories of your epic battles and the evil she did during your time with King Arthur….” Harry stopped when he came upon a realization, “…. stop, after the tons of Harry Potter adventures I have seen published that are 100% garbage, I can see how this can happen.” Harry concluded.

Emry’s was pissed, upset, mad even. “My wife was not bloody evil! You need to promise me you will clear this travesty up, she cannot be remembered that way. Once you have claim her vault and family name, please try to let the truth be known. She was the only woman that ever understood me! She died during childbirth along with my son. That is the reason I did not have any children, I could not go through the loss again.” Emry’s said sadly the anger melting away as he remembered his past love.

“I promise, I will try. If she was your wife, why does she have her own vault and family name to pass on?” Harry asked.

“For the same reason Helga never took Salazar’s name, or Rowena never took Godric’s. You have to understand back when the Wizard’s council was forming, there were very few wizards or witches that had enough power to be considered for the council. So it was agreed that even though the ladies were married they would use their given last names to establish full wizarding lines, at least until they could pass them on to their heirs, hence giving the illusion that there were seven families on the council, when there were really only four, since seven is known as a highly magical number, even though for the life of us, none of us could figure out why. Myself and Morgana, Godric and Rowena, Salazar and Helga, and Peverell. I did hear that after I left once Morgana passed away, and the founder’s as you referred to them started Hogwarts, which I still cannot believe they named their school after their Goblin friend, that six more seats were added to the council, for a total of thirteen, another number that is supposedly magical. The Potter’s had one, the Black’s, I think Flamel took one, and I think one was given to Hogwarts so that whomever was running the school had a say in things. I never heard who they issued the final two to, but you might look into it, as they would most likely be good allies to have.” Emry’s concluded while noticing Harry’s mouth was open and he had a glossed over expression on his face. “Harry.. Harry .. HARRY! What’s wrong?” Emry’s called out finally snapping Harry out of it.

“The founders were married to each other? How did that bit of history get lost? Wait you don’t know, never mind I will have to look that up to. Well that explains why there is no family tree for the Helga and Rowena after their deaths, they never go the opportunity to split the families. … “ Harry added.

“Actually they may not have been able to, you see giving the illusion of multiple families was easy, separating them could have ended up being extremely difficult. You have to understand the time period, women were seen as lesser beings, men controlled everything. The only way a woman became a lady was by marrying a lord, and if he passed away, she would only be a lady in name until either a male heir took over or she married another lord. The woman had little to no political power. If they did not have an heir to pass the name too, it could explain why their vaults have laid waiting, and how when you inherited Gryffindor’s and Salazar’s vaults you came to control Helga’s and Rowena’s as the control of the vaults would have reverted to the husbands control. It also explains you gaining control over Morgana’s vault as it reverted to my control, I could never bring myself to enter the vault after she died.” Emry’s explained.

Thinking that new piece of information through and realizing they needed to get going, Harry stated “Okay well enough history lessons for today, I’m going to be reliving it all anyway right?” Harry exclaimed, “We had better get this started I have a wife that will most likely want to kill me when this over, to calm down, so let’s get started!” Harry continued.

“Good Luck, Harry Potter….” Emry’s added as he stood up and placed his hand on Harry’s shoulder, “I, as the living memory of Lord Merlin Emry’s and guardian of his family name, hereby grant the leadership of the Emry’s family to Harry James Potter, may he use the power of the family wisely and bring honor to its’ name. So mote it be..” Emry’s said as his image vanished and a green light filled the area Harry’s was viewing and then the pain started.

“Bloody !! HELL !! .. “ Harry screamed as the pain of bones breaking apart and reforming, shifting and re-breaking and reforming again shot through his body. The sensation of skin ripping apart, healing and stretching painfully was added and then an influx of thoughts and memories, experience not his own barraged his mind. Then the feeling of his magically core undergoing his majority all at the same time, but the ritual was keeping him awake during it all. While enduring the pain, he started to live the life of young Emry’s and beyond ….

 

[Gringott’s, Lowest Vault Level, Outside Emry’s Vault, ten second after Harry touched the handprint]

 

“Harry !?” Rosa cried, but got no response, but observed to make sure Harry’s was still breathing.

“What is the matter, Lady Emry’s?” Ragnok asked concerned.

“Harry and I share a bond link, and whatever is going on in this ritual is somehow blocking it, I thought something went wrong.” Rosa said with tears in her eyes.

“Hopefully this will not last much longer, but it would seem since Harry is still with us, that means he has been found worthy, we just have to wait..” Ragnok explained.

“When will we know if the ritual was a success?” Rosa asked.

“Generally there is a transfer of power that is done at the time the ritual completes, it is usually signified by a brief flash of light and the appearance of the head of house ring. Depending on the amount … “ Ragnok started to explain, but was interrupted as Harry screamed out in pain and was surround but a bright, constant green light. The three witnesses watches as Harry aged again slightly, his hair seemed to burn away only to regrow longer, fully and straighter, then a two inch beard and moustache grew on his face, his shoulders widened, his muscles became more pronounced all the while his face showed signs of excruciating pain and suffering, but he was no longer able to vocalize.

“HARRY !!!!” Rosa screamed and tried to reach him, only to be stopped by both Ragnok and Griphook.

“NO! As I explained you cannot interfere, it would certainly kill you both. This must complete on its own. We just have to hope Harry survives.” Ragnok said with regret as they watch Harry suffer through pain none of them could even imagine.

….


	15. Chapter 15

[Inside Harry's Mind during the Inheritance Ritual]

Flashes of Emry's life were seen as Harry tried to block out the pain as his body continued to endure the pain caused by the combination of his majority ritual being condensed to minutes and the influx of power, knowledge, and experience he was gaining from Emrys.

'Come on, I've heard the expression NO PAIN, NO GAIN, but this is extreme. I can't even move I'm in so much pain' Harry thought as the pain kept coming in waves. 'Emrys is right if this is just the first ritual, I will never live through the other hundred plus, even if they are LESS severe.' he added.

Memories of young Emrys life where being processed at a flash forward pace, but the information was retained, and life moved on. 'Ok, Chimedis was right, dumb as a doorknob and twice as bright, I bet Crabbe and Goyle could have won a battle of wits with him at that age. Worse yet his early years were more boring than mine, and that is saying a lot. This has to get better.' Harry absently thought, not noticing that the more memories he viewed the less noticeable the pain was.

The memory of meeting Chimedis, their bonding and the decision for Chimedis to be disguised as Archimedes, the entire new Emrys that emerged after the bonding, his discoveries and meeting the multitudes of different magical races, a large number that Harry had never heard of. 'I am never going to remember all of this... I wonder just how much I have changed since the bonding, I know I changed physically and I can't use a wand, but did I change the drastically?' he pondered as more and more magical races were discovered.

'Now this is get nauseating, too many memories, which are mine, which are Florans' and which are Emry's, plus I'm even getting a few of the shared ones from Chimedis, I wonder if throwing up on a goblin is a act of war, because I really should not have eaten all that before starting this.' Harry thought sickly as the memoires kept coming, faster and faster.

....

[Gringott's, Lowest vault level, outside Emry's vault]

Harry was still glowing green after almost twenty minutes, he had stopped screaming and contorting after the first five minutes, but had been unresponsive since then. The goblins and Rosa where watching closely as Harry's seemed to almost turn the color of the light surrounding him.

"He looks ill, is this normal?' Rosa asked Ragnok worriedly.

"I am quickly coming to the realization that nothing is ever normal about your husband, Lady Emrys. This is the longest inheritance ritual I have even witnessed. Normally there is the review of what need to be done, a short pause, maybe five minute, a flash of light and the ring appears. Between the physical changes and the fact that instead of a flash, he had been glowing for over fifteen minutes, I cannot begin to figure out what should be normal." Ragnok exclaimed as he was in shock at what he was seeing.

"I agree he does seem to be getting greener, should I prepare a lift to return upstairs or do you think Harry will want to continue to the next vault after this?" Griphook added.

"I think a bit of a break is going to be needed before continuing. Why don't you get the lift prepared to take Lady and Lord Emrys to the guest rooms I had prepared and make sure the way is clear." Ragnok answered back as Griphook sent a message through a tube system in the center of the vault floor. 

Turning to Rosa, "This might take a little longer than originally projected, please take as long as you need to help Harry recover, unfortunately we are going to need to complete this as soon as possible, the bank opens soon and as soon as some of those house stop in for withdraws or payment request come in and cannot be paid, the containment on this matter is going to become extremely difficult." Ragnok explained.

Meanwhile a reply was already arriving to Griphook, he took out several sheets and reviewed them quickly and approached the pair. "I might have a suggestion on how to contain this a little longer, but it would require closing the bank for today and maybe tomorrow?" Griphook said quietly knowing closing the bank would be considered bad business, but thinking that with the amount of money now control by Lord Emry's it would be minor loss.

"What do you mean close the bank, do you understand the chaos that would cause, we would have no reason for the closure and the Wizards would cause an uproar? Why would you make such a suggestion?" Ragnok fired back.

Handing the director the messages he had received, "It seems that the wizards do not understand what has happened yet. It would appear that all the wizards that were affected by the spell Harry cast are either in a coma or dead. The wizards are calling it an attack or a disease and are quarantining the affected and anyone who is in contact with them. They also explain the affected have had their magical cores reduced or eliminated due to the illness. We can use that assumption as the reason for the bank to remain closed until a cause can be discovered to the illness to limit exposure to the goblin nation. Granted we know what has happened but that knowledge is limited to a very select few. I would not think it will take the wizards long to figure out the matter is limited to Death Eaters and those sworn to Voldemort, but it might buy us enough time for Lord Emrys to complete his rituals and for the accounting department to calculate the final interest and penalties on all the loans and contract to the houses Lord Emrys now control. It would also give us the opportunity to assess those charges without delay as there are quite a few that are extremely in arrears" Griphook explained with a calculating look in his eyes.

"I do believe I should have given you this opportunity sooner, your talents were wasted at the counters. Yes, for the safety of the Goblin Nation I do believe we should keep the doors of this branch closed until a cause of this illness has been announced and any risk of exposure to the bank and its workers is dealt with... or until Lord Emrys finishes his inheritance rituals and all account audits are completed. Thank you for making me aware of this extreme and unexpected situation Griphook, make sure my command is carried out and then return here." Ragnok said while showing a full goblin smile.

"Right away Director sir" Griphook replied with a smirk and left to handle the situation.

Mean while Harry was till glowing, completely unaware of the havoc he had caused to wizard society and the amusement he had created for the goblins.

"You seemed to be looking forward to announcing those penalties Ragnok." Rosa said with a knowing glint in her eye.

"Well, we were looking forward to assessing even greater penalties to some of the pureblood houses until Lord Emrys swallowed up so many, so now we have to look outside of those for other outstand debts as it would seem pointless to assess penalties and collect fines from those families only to hand them directly back to your husband after he paid them. The upside of the situation is an number of the pureblood families routinely loaned money to others without ever collecting payments on the loans, in an attempt to hide payoffs. Since Harry would never stand for this type of disregard of the rules, we will need to be reclaiming those loans immediately to make sure the house books are in order for the new lords review." Ragnok answered back still wearing the full goblin smile.

"Of course, any new head of house would want the books brought to date, and if this causes unknown strife for the families Harry does not control, that would be most unfortunate." Rosa answered back while smirking herself, when she quickly snapped her head back in Harry's direction.

"That would be unfortunate wouldn't it." Ragnok answered as he witnessed the green glow diminishing around Harry, "It seems the ritual is coming to an end" Ragnok added as both Rosa and he approached Harry as the diminishing light collected on his ring finger and the house ring of the Emrys family appeared.

"Harry.. " Rosa cried out as she swayed until Ragnok caught her.

"Are you alright Lady Emrys?" Ragnok asked as he saw tears forming on Rosa's face.

"Yes, our bond snapped back in place and it caught me off guard.... Harry .." she exclaimed as she looked at Harry.

Harry slowly removed his hand from the wall, or more like his hand fell from the wall. He slowly turned toward Rosa's voice, but showed no signs of recognition. Looking between Ragnok and Rosa he quickly focused on Rosa, and said straight laced "that hurt" before promptly passing out and collapsing in front of his wife and the Director of Gringotts.

....

 

[St Mungo's, Second Floor, Quarantine Waiting Area]

Dumbledore is talking to Flitwick off in the hall away from anyone else.

"Yes, it was the same with Lucius. Narcissa would not confirm it, but I would wager that Lord Malfoy has been reduced to either a squib or a muggle as well" Dumbledore explained.

"Yes, it is the same with everyone else I talked to, and in matches what Poppy had described happening to Severus. " Flitwick added.

"I believe I understand what the common denominator between all the victims is, of course exactly how we prove this maybe another issue." Dumbledore whispered.

"What do you think you have discovered?" Flitwick asked curiously.

"Alas, I need to confirm my theory with Madam Bones before I speak it aloud, can you stand guard while I make a quick call and ask her about it? If my theory is right, I promise I will explain it to you." Dumbledore asked. 'Of course, only the part I have to' he thought.

"Of course, hopefully you can confirm your theory as I would like to get out of here and back to Hogwarts." Flitwick answered back.

"You and I both." Dumbledore stated back as he entered one of the secure floo rooms. Throwing the red floo powder into the floo he spoke, "Madam Bones, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Ministry of Magic.", the floo burned red for several seconds before the voice of Madam Bones can be heard.

"Headmaster, what can I do for you, I see you are at St Mungo's, any updates?" Madam Bones asked hastily.

"Yes I am Amelia, Poppy, Filius and I were quarantined due to being in contact with one of the infected, but if my theory on all the infected pans out, we may be able to get out of here sooner rather than later. That is why I am calling." Dumbledore explained.

"What do you know, or what do you think you know?" Amelia fired back with concern in her voice.

"I need you to pull the records for all suspected Death Eaters from the end of the last war, and have it compared to the list of known infected wizards?" Dumbledore explained.

"You think someone is targeting Death Eaters, or at least suspected Death Eaters ?" Amelia answered back, with a sarcastic tone when she said suspected.

"It is my theory. Based on the people here we talked to and observed, I believe all the families represented were either suspected, convicted or connected to someone who was." Dumbledore explained.

"I will have the records pulled at once, but you understand this might take time. Some of these records are sealed and will take a Wizengamot vote to unseal to match up the lists completely. I will pull what information we can and hopefully it will be enough to support your theory so we can get you out of there and call the Wizengamot meeting to order to unseal the others to confirm it before things get out of control. I have had aurors out since early this morning breaking up disputes ever since the Daily Prophet started blaming this on half-blood and muggleborns." Amelia answered back, building herself up to a huff by the end talking about the prophet.

"Please get back to me as soon as you have something." Dumbledore replied.

"Will do." Amelia answered right before the floo connection ended.

'I wonder if this has to do with the prophecy. If Harry did defeat Voldemort and died in the process, hence fulfilling the ' either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives' part of the prophecy, just maybe this is the results of the prophecy and we are finally safe.' Dumbledore thought to himself. 'If this is and Tom's followers are following him to the grave, I might just be able to pass the laws I need to get the magical world back on track. Too bad about Severus, but if this is it, it will all be for the Greater Good.' he added.

...

 

[Hogwarts, Hagrid's Hut]

Hagrid had just entered his Hut with a shovel in his hand, when he quickly dropped it with a look of shock on his face.

"DAMN!" Hagrid bellowed, "Of all the low down, sneaky, underhanded, and disrespectful things to do, who would have stolen Hedwig's body? And why break the box, I worked on that all night? I better tell Professor McGonagall." Hagrid exclaimed loudly before stopping out of the hut and heading toward the castle. In all his rush he never noticed the dim green glow around the remains of his burial box.

...

 

[Gringotts, Private Guest Chambers of Lady and Lord Emrys]

Rosa is sitting on the bed, back against the wall, with Harry resting in her lap, her hand is running though his hair.

'Harry, please wake up or let me know you can hear me. I can feel you, I know you are there, but you have got to stop scaring me this way.' Rosa thought to herself. She examines Harry's face and the changes that were made. 'He doesn't look that much older maybe eighteen, of course without the beard and moustache he might look younger.' she continued to think to herself, reach out and touching the course hair of the beard. 'This will defiantly have to go, this is just not Harry. I like the longer hair though, I kind of miss the old days when all men wore it longer, not just the pureblood lords. Listen to me I am gossiping on fashion like Katrina, used to do. Well I am human now, well at least in part, I should get use to it. However I cannot wait to go flying though, I really miss being able to fly.' So caught up in her musing she never noticed Harry's eyes open and focus on her, as he heard everything we was thinking.

"I'll take you flying as soon as were done here, I promise" Harry stated calmly, quite enjoying the soothing feeling of Rosa's hands running through his hair.

"Harry !! Your okay, thank the light." Rosa exclaimed, and then in a flash only possible by upset wives she switched gears in an instant, "You are in so much trouble mister! This should just be the inheritance, what was with the screaming! what about the silent screaming and the looks of utter pain, the changes you underwent, all the while I had to stand there and do nothing! What do you have to say for yourself? Well say something!" Rosa screamed.

Harry did the only thing he could think of to calm he down, he reached his left arm up around her head and pulled it down and shut her up but snogging her silent. It was in actuality his first kiss, but he had memories of how to do it, what to expect and what it would fell like from having relived Emry's life and his first kiss with Morgana. Harry Potter could say with certainty that his first experience at kissing was much better than he excepts, and anything he had experience in Emry's memories, he also knew this was because it was with Rosa.

'Oh no you don't I will not be .. This feels nice .. No I am mad, and I am rightfully .. Hmm do that again ... NO! I want to ... continue this later... I have waiting long enough for this... but we should talk... later, definitely later' Rosa tried to continue her rant, but finally gave into the sensations she had hoped she might experience ever since she learned she would be bonding with Harry.

...


	16. Chapter 16

[Three Hours later]  
[Inside Harry Potter's Mind]

Flashes of the life of Merlin Emrys ran through Harry's mind, the question if he was Harry, Merlin, or even a mix of the two became harder to answer. Really what was thirteen years worth of memories against almost 500 years worth? Add to that the 400+ years of memories he gained from Floran and he knew he would need many lifetimes worth of therapy to get it all straight, if it was even possible. Something in the back of his head kept telling him he was Harry and that this was NOT how the memory transfer was supposed to happen.  
'Right like anything in my life went the way it was supposed to.' Harry thought to himself, 'Great not only and I talking to myself, I am thinking to myself and making fun of myself all at the same time. Hermione would have a field day with me if I tried to explain this.' Harry continued to think to himself as he experienced more of the life of one Merlin Emry's. 

[Gringotts, Guest Rooms, Lord & Lady Emrys]  
[Harry and Rosa in bed, under the covers, Harry slowly wakes up]

"Ugh. Did anyone get the name of who through that bludger?" Harry said to himself, while noticing the situation he was in. Looking down as Rosa wakes up and looks up at him from where her head was lying on his chest. In an instant Harry remembers what happened three hours ago, "oh, god. I am so sorry Rosa." Harry exclaimed.

"Why? Everything is okay." Rosa replied surprised by the apology.

"No it's not, this was our first chance to be alone, and I blew it. I swear when I started I thought I would last longer." Harry embarrassingly admitted.

"Harry you have the same memories I do, of both Helena and Katrina, you know this has happened to other guys, and at least you have the excuse of having just gone through what appeared to be an excruciating ordeal. No one would blame you for what happened, especially me." Rosa exclaimed while she hoped Harry would understand.

"I know, but even knowing it happens to other guys, I really figured with all the power running through me, I would be able to last longer. " Harry continued.

"Harry, it's fine, don't beat yourself up about it. Just don't let it happen again." Rosa answered calmly but pointedly.

"I didn't want it to happen in the first place! But I will try." Harry answered apologetically.

"I understand, but falling asleep on your wife after just one kiss on what should have been our wedding night, can only be excused once. So next time we start you better make sure you can stay awake, or I might have to set your ass of fire to wake you up." Rosa said with a slight giggle, having pictured Harry hopping out bed grabbing his ass.

"Count on it, and you know you would never light me ass on fire, you seem to enjoy looking at way too much to damage it." Harry replied, finally understanding that Rosa was not holding what happened against him and hoping by teasing back she understood as well. From the blush that quickly took over her face, Harry figured he was ok.

Blushing to her toes, "But ... How .. You.. You had to bring that up?" Rosa stammered.

While smiling at her, "Well let's see we are in bed, even though we are still dressed, and we were talking about when we get a chance to finish what we started and all the sudden I get images of first you setting my ass of fire, but then a multitude of flashes of different views of by bum, some which I know you were looking at in your phoenix form, so I figured I was safe from the fire attack." Harry continued to tease his wife.

"Well it is a fine bum, at least compared to the ones I have seen over the years." Rosa said back with a smirk.

"I so don't want to have this conversation right now. How long do you figure we have been here?" Harry asked trying to change the subject.

"Well you were passed out for about an hour after you stopped glowing, and then we kissed and you fell asleep..." she said with a slight tease to her voice, "then after trying to wake you for about half an hour or so, I laid down with you and fell asleep so I am not quite sure." Rosa explained.

"Tempus" Harry cast as time and date showed in smoky letters able his hand. "Right, it's been between four and five hours since we headed down to the vaults, we have to get back down there and finish the inheritance rites as soon as possible, Ragnok is only going to be able to keep the identity of the owner of all those Death Eater accounts quiet for so long, and then all hell is going to break loose." Harry called out as he worked his way out of bed.

"About that, the bank is closed today and possibly tomorrow while you complete the rites, and the goblins have a chance to complete the audit of all those new accounts and tally any outstanding debts or loans, so you have some time, so slow down." Rosa explained to help calm Harry down.

"What! Why? I don't think I have ever heard of the Goblins closing the bank, and that is including all yours and Emrys memories. Wait hold on there was that one time they closed for Merlin's funeral, but that is the only time I can think remember." Harry explained as he tried to think of any other time the bank closed.

"Harry, here read this" Rosa said handing him a copy of the Daily Prophet that Ragnok had provided for when Harry woke up. "The wizarding world does not know what is happening and Ragnok and Griphook used this to buy you some time." she continued, while she pulled a cord next to the bed and a slight chime was heard.  
Moments later while Harry was reading the Prophet article about the so called outbreak, a knock came to the door. 

"Enter" Rosa called out. 

The door opened an a small female goblin entered. "You rang my Lady"

"Yes can you please let Director Ragnok and Goblin Griphook know that Lord Potter-Emrys is awake, and that we will meet them in the dining area in fifteen minutes." Rosa stated calmly.

"Right away my Lady. " the female goblin answered back before closing the door as she was leaving.

Harry snapped out of his thoughts as the door closed, "This is crazy, are you telling me that no one has connected the dots and figured out that all these supposed victims are previously suspected Death Eaters. Plus their numbers are way wrong, I remember connecting to a lot more than fifteen people. I claimed over eight times that many families and I know several families were represented by more than one Death Eater. I don't remember anything about putting people in a coma though, it might have to do with the draining of their magical core, but Chimedis didn't mentioned it." Harry said.

"Yes, of course my lovely GRANDFATHER left several things out DIDN'T HE" Rosa said as she got more and more upset remembering her promise to make a feather pillow out of him.

"Calm Down... Chimedis isn't to blame entirely I did not ask, like a foolish Gryffindor I rushed in without all the facts and acted on instinct and feelings instead of know for sure what I was doing." Harry explained trying to calm her down.

"Fine then, I will beat you with the pillow I make out of grandfather the next time we see him." Rosa answered back in a huff.

"Well, let talk about it later, we really need to get back down there, and I think you might enjoy yourself this time." Harry said knowingly.

"Wait.. What do you mean I will enjoy myself this time, I did not enjoy watching you be tortured." Rosa exclaimed.

Holding his hands up to delay another outburst, "I understand, but I have a surprise for you when we get down there" Harry said calmly.

"Really... what is it?" Rosa asked somewhat excited and somewhat nervous about what it could be.

"You will have to wait and see" Harry jokingly answered back.

"What? ... Why?" Rosa answered back

"Because it is a SURPRISE, now we should get going" Harry started towards the door.

"Wait, what is the surprise?" Rosa whined a little as she followed Harry. 'Now I understand why Katrina did not like surprised' she thought to herself as she went to catch up.

...

[St Mungo's Hospital, Second Floor, Quarantine Floor]

Flitwick is sitting in a seat reading over the Daily Prophet as Dumbledore is pacing, while keeping an eye of the floo connection.

"You might as well take a seat Headmaster, it doesn't do you any good to keep pacing, your contact will call back when they can' Flitwick said, trying yet again to get the headmaster from pacing, it was starting to drive him up the wall.

"As I said, it helps me think, plus they should have got back to me about my theory ... a while .. oh, maybe I should sit down" Albus said as he started to look extremely week and leaned and then dropped in the seat he was aiming for as his head dropped and he lost consciousness.

"Headmaster ! ... Headmaster. " Flitwick approached Albus and shook him to no avail, then remembering the comment about not touch those showing signs of the illness, Flitwick moved away making sure not to touch any exposed skin and went to the security door and knock.

"Yes, what do you need" came through the door.

"... The Headmaster, he suddenly sat down and passed out and won't stir." Flitwick explained still stunned by what had happened.

Quickly the doors opened and several medwitches entered, one case a spell on the headmaster, and motioned to another to do the same. The second medwitch did and they both looked at the findings and immediately cast another spell that starting levitating the headmaster towards the door.

"Is he infected with the illness ?" Flitwick asked as others in the room gathered to hear the answer.

"Maybe, his magical core is very low, and is showing signs of magical exhaustion, which MIGHT be the first stages of this illness, as all of the others were found after their core was depleted. We are moving him to isolation to monitor his condition to see if this in fact the early stages, if it is it might help us come up with a cure if we can catch it in time." the remaining medwitch explained before leaving to catch up with her associates.

"I must inform Minerva about this development." Flitwick said to himself as he headed toward the floo.

...

[Gringotts, Lowest vault floor, outside the Emry's Vault]

Ragnok, Griphook, Harry and Rosa are approaching the vault door.

"Now Harry, as I said you were already granted the Emry's Lordship we really must be moving on." Ragnok explained.

"I know and fully agree, but I need to show Rosa something before we continue, give us five minutes and we will continue on to the LeFay vault alright." Harry explained calmly. 

"As you wish Harry, just please keep it to five minutes. Even with the delay we were able to achieve do to the unknown outbreak, we can only hold things off through tomorrow." Ragnok answered back.

"I know and I thank both you and Griphook for the time, I know it is not a common occurrence for Gringott's to close a branch for a day, not to think of two. Plus this will make things a little easier on everyone trust me." Harry answered back unknowingly with a slight twinkle to his eye.

"Very well. Please continue", Ragnok motioned towards the door.

Harry and Rosa approached the door, Harry took Rosa's hand and looked at her.  
"Trust me, when the door opens, move with me inside quickly." Harry said calmly.

"I do trust you, let's go" Rosa responded nervously.

Harry put his hand in the hand imprint, and the door seal let out a hiss as the vacuum of the long sealed door was released and started to open.

"Let's go." Harry stated as he pulled Rosa with him through the door opening before the door resealed before Ragnok or Griphook could see inside.

"Damn. I was curious what was in there." Ragnok said off handedly.

"You could always ask Harry he would probably tell you or even let us look" Griphook explained as it was a normal occurrence. 

"True, while most customers would be offended, Harry would probably not have a problem with it. That is if he does not offer us access on his own... I was right he will be a most interesting customer." Ragnok answered back, noticing a torch burning red near the lift they took down. "Griphook there appears to be a message waiting" Ragnok said pointing to the red burning torch.

"Right away Director." Griphook said as he went to the torch, turned it and then reset it, now burning with a normal yellow, red-orange color. Then a tube arrived with another message. Griphook opened it, scan the contents as his eye grew large and he brought it over to the Director. "You might want to read this." Griphook exclaimed handing the Director a Daily Prophet special edition.

 

"CHIEF WARLOCK, ALBUS DUMBLEDORE THE LATEST VICTIM OF THIS MAGICAL OUTBREAK?" by John Writebrow.

In a late addition to the mounting number of victims, now over fifty, to the latest magical illness, the information that Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, the defeater of the Dark Lord Grindelwald, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards has contracted the illness and is in the early stages of it as this article is being prepared. As the speed of the illness is unknown, and this would appear to be the first case showing that the condition is indeed contagious we can only hope that a cure can be found in time. 

We will over course keep you informed on any new developments.

 

"CLARIFICATION TO EARLIER ARTICLE" by the Editor and Chief

Since our earlier article by reporter Rita Skeeter was publisher, it has been brought to the attention of the Daily Prophet that several half-blood wizards and witches have been found also inflicted with this illness. Furthermore since this disease mimics many muggle illnesses, we cannot confirm or deny any outbreaks in the muggleborn sector of the wizarding world. The DMLE has strongly encouraged the Daily Prophet to make this information known so that the civil unrest caused by our earlier article might be contained.

 

"GRINGOTT'S CLOSED DUE TO MAGICAL ILLNESS!" by Rita Skeeter

If has been brought to this reporters attention that the Diagon Alley branch of Gringott's did not open at its ' scheduled time this morning. A noticed was posted on the outside of the door written in several languages, claiming that the bank is remaining closed while the cause of the magical illness is discovered and can be determined not to be a threat to the goblin people as a whole. An anonymous source inside Gringott's confirmed that since this illness damages the magical core of those infected the Goblin Nation which rely on their own magical cores to maintain the security of our worlds wealth are taking every precaution to avoid an outbreak within their own walls. Based on historical records this is the first time Gringott's has been closed for anything other than security upgrades, break ins (see pg 6), or repairs since the funeral of Merlin. We at the Daily Prophet will keep our readers informed of when this situation is resolved. Until then the questions of when and how we are to access our funds are unanswered.

pg 6. Last year's break in to Gringotts.

 

Ragnok looked at Griphook and smiled, "An how much did the anonymous source make from these comments" Ragnok asked.

Griphook smiled, "200 galleons. She started at 20 and finally negotiated to 200 for the information we wanted her to have. 100 galleons have already been transferred to your account as is custom for a sale of information of this nature." he concluded.

Ragnok chuckled, "The Daily Prophet is so predictable. The best part is they pay us to tell them what we want them to know. One would figure they would figure this out after a thousand years of dealings, but no one said the average wizard had common sense... Now if Harry would return we can continue." he concluded.

 

[Gringott's, Inside the Emry's vault]

Piles of galleons, gold bars, silver bars, mithril bars, potion ingredients, armor, weapons, poles, wand blanks, staffs, jewels and jewelry, books and scrolls, tapestries and items beyond description fill the cave like interior of the Emry's vault. It should be called the Emry's catacombs as their appeared to be many tunnels leading from the main area. In the middle of the main area Harry and Rosa are in front of a large pedestal.

"Harry why are we here, I understand you inherited all this but this is really not much of a surprise, since this is Merlin's vault." Rosa exclaimed.

"Yes, it is Merlin's vault, and that is part of your surprise. Here please sit down." Harry said as he waved his hand and a very comfortable lounge chair appeared. 

"Show off" Rosa quipped as she sat down.

"You have not see anything yet. Now give me a minute for your surprise, stay right there" Harry said excitedly, as he moved around the room looking for items. First he brought out a rune engraved pole and a gold base which is was mounted on, which he set-up in front of Rosa. He then when back in to the right tunnel and came out with a large smile on his face and what appeared to be a gem of some sort, the top part looked to be an emerald the middle part was sapphire and the bottom appeared to be a ruby, but it was seamless. 

"What is that?" Rosa asked amazed at the almost baseball sized gem.

"This is part of your surprise, now watch and prepare to be amazed." Harry answered back placing the gem in the holder on top of the staff, and then he placed four more poles with clear crystals on top at four equal distances from the center around the middle staff. "Here goes nothing." Harry claimed as he held his hand up to the first of the four clear gems and pushed magic into the gem causing it to glow white, he quickly moved to the next and repeat the action until he was at the fourth pole. "Are you ready?" Harry asked with the look of a kid at a candy store on his face.

"Yes I am ready, what is it?" Rosa laughed at her husbands' antics. 

"I give you, your surprise" Harry exclaimed as he pushed magic into the finally clear crystal. Once the final crystal was ignited a beam of white light travelled from each of the four poles to the middle staff and the gem on top, the fours poles continued to send energy until they were drained and dimmed. Then the gem now glowing sent a beam of its own five feet in front of Rosa, creating a full size, life like representation of Merlin Emry's. 

Rosa stared at the image and was just about to ask Harry something when the images eyes opened and his head moved around taking in it's environment, locking eyes on Harry.

"I see you are putting my memories to good use Harry." Emry's stated and turned to Rosa, "And who have your brought with you to visit me?" he continued.

"Emry's I would like you to meet Rosa my wife, also known as Floran, daughter of Sorlan, granddaughter of Chimedis, and your great niece if you will." Harry explained, and looked at Rosa and said with a smile, "Rosa meet Merlin Emry's your grandfather's bonded and your great Uncle as I understand it" 

Emry's had a smile a mile long as he opened his arms to his great niece, "Welcome to the family my dear"

Rosa looked at Harry in awe and then towards Emrys. Not sure exactly what was going on, but curious on what was happening she approached her great uncle and tentatively touch his arm, to find to her amazement that he was solid and quickly moved into the open arms and hugged him. "This is amazing, but how" Rosa said as she felt Emrys return her hug.

"Magic my dear, magic." Emrys replied.

"Yes, I figured you two could get acquainted as I finish the other magic rituals I have to see to, and since only the three of us can get in here, it is the safest place I could think of to activate the gem." Harry explained.

"Wait, your leaving me here?" Rosa exclaimed.

"Well, I did not want you to worry about me through the rest of the rituals, and I have a feeling their going to be painful to watch. Emrys will know if I am in any danger as my magic is keeping the gem functioning and this way he can explain what is going on better than I can. Plus you can have blackmail material on Chimedis so you don't have to make a pillow out of him the next time we see him." Harry answered back, hoping she understood why this needed to be done.

Thinking it over, and understanding she would just be a nervous wreck watching Harry go through anymore rituals, she could see the reason for the diversion. Plus the addition of blackmail material on grandfather was icing on the preverbal cake. "Ok, but you had better be careful. I am fully expecting to continue our activ.. um, conversation from earlier when this is all done. " she explained slightly blushing.

"So, I do have something to look forward to then, all the more reason not to die." Harry said off handedly.

Rosa quickly removed herself from Emrys and approached Harry, "Something to look forward to! You can be so aggravating at times, every since we returned it has been one thing after another, just one more way to almost die, you would think you had a death wish. I did not risk my life so you could throw it all away, so you better not do anything stupid and you had better be ready to make it up to me when you are done, do I make myself clear." Rosa said with flames in her eye, literally.

Realizing he may have gone a little overboard with the attitude Harry showed he was sorry in his stance, "I understand, and will try not to do anything stupid until I return. Now that you are done channeling Katrina, I have to go meet up with Ragnok and Griphook and finish these rituals. Please keep Emrys company, and I will make it up to you when I return." Harry said calmly as he quickly gave Rosa a kiss which caught her off guard and then moved toward the door. "Oh and Rosa." Harry asked as the door was opening.

Snapping out of her stupor, she looked at Harry "Yes." she replied.

"I stand by my thought when we were bonding, you are cute when you're angry." Harry said with a smile as he slid out the closing door.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Rosa started to scream when she realized Harry was gone, and she could hear chuckling from behind her, turning her head toward Emrys.

"He has no idea what he is in for, does he my dear?" Emrys asked.

"No, he doesn't, but he will find out." Rosa answered back calculating on what she was going to do to Harry when he returned.

"Well in the meantime, tell me about Chimedis, your dad and yourself, I have missed so much." Emrys started.

 

...

 

[Gringotts, Lowest Vault Floor, Outside the Emry's Vault]  
[as the door is closing]

"HARRY JAMES ..." Rosa cried out as the door closed.

Harry looking back at the door slightly worried, "I might have overdone it again." Harry stated out loud.

"I would say your assumption is correct in that Harry, I have heard my wives use that tone several times over the years, you definitely overdid something." Ragnok answered back with amusement in his voice.

"Well I'll make it up to her, now that she is tied up for a while let's get to the other rituals shall we? I think the wizarding world is waiting to find out what is going on." Harry stated as he approached the pair.

"More than you know Harry, hear read this as we move to the next vault." Ragnok started. They all then started walking down to the next vault opening.

"Wait.. Dumbledore was not part of the spell, I would have known if I am was connected to him. You did not mention anything about him either." Harry paused in his approach to vault two as he was ready.

"Yes, it is interesting as we all know this is not an illness, so it could not be contagious, but this might buy us some additional time and present you with the perfect opportunity to prepare for your return. I will explain later, but now we need to complete these rituals." Ragnok explained as he prompted Harry to continue to the vault. 

As they arrived at the vault Harry approach the area that the handprint indent was on Emrys vault but found nothing. He turned toward the goblins and raised an eyebrow.

"The Emrys vault is the only vault with that particular locking mechanism. For this one.." Ragnok looked in the journal book again, "you need to grasp the handle and state your name and family connection, the magic of the vault will again sample your blood and deem you worthy or not." Ragnok concluded.

"Right, let get on with it", Harry started, he grabbed the bar like handle with both hands and stated, "I am Harry James Potter, heir to the LeFay family though my lineage as the heir of the Emry's family." which caused shocked looks on the face of both Ragnok and Griphook as it was well known that Merlin and Morgana were enemies, weren't them? Their eyes grew larger when a female voice was heard.

"Your lineage is accepted, welcome the heir of LeFay" the female voice said as the seal on the door opened, a light surrounded Harry and he vanished as the door closed.

"Great! Now if he does not return we get to deal with Lady Emrys" Ragnok exclaimed.

"Let hope he returns quickly then, as Lady Emrys can be downright frightening." Griphook added.

"Agreed." Ragnok said hoping all would work out.

...


	17. Chapter 17

[Inside the LeFay vault. Entry way]

Harry looked around for a moment and then quickly proceeded to gather miscellaneous items from around the room. 

"What are you doing, my heir ?" the voice asked

"Hold one second, and I will show you." Harry answered back as he returned with a familiar looking multi-colored gem. He proceeded to set-up the same display apparatus he had set-up for Rosa in the Emry's vault.

"Ah, you have already been to Emry's vault, I see. Unfortunately, if you understand what you are doing, you also know it takes almost a full day to charge each focus rod and I believe you did not ..." the voice started but stop seeing Harry had already activated the first focus and was almost done on the second, with a smirk on his face. "But that should not be possible.." the voice added as Harry moved to the third focus pole.

"Not possible or not probable?" Harry asked jokingly as his completed charging the fourth and final focus. The bright light collected into the physical representation of Morgana LeFay. Then with a strange look in his eye , a smirk on his face and a thick welsh ancient not his own, Harry said "Looking Good Leafy"

The expression on Morgana's face went from shock from how fast Harry activated the focus, to utter and complete shock at the greeting and sound of his greeting, to miffed in seconds.

"Leafy! The one thing Emry's taught you was the one name he promised to take to his grave. Oh, that is just like that smart ass !!" Morgana fumed as she stomped her foot looking around for something to smash, but stopped to the sound of Harry laughing. "What is so funny ?" she added.

"You! First Emrys kept his word, he just didn't say the name would stay in the grave. Two you are just as dynamic as I remember... I mean Emrys' remembers you. I had to see if myself. He explained that he could set you off with a word, and you were so glorious in your anger that it was worth being screamed at to see you in all you glory." Harry explained as he made himself and Morgana chairs to sit in, before sitting down and motioning her to do the same.

Morgana again went through a quick set of emotions, sad to remember that Emrys had fulfilled his promised, but by dying, shock that he had not promised to keep the name a secret beyond that, and she had not made him, and finally to joy, at what emotions this little prank had been able to let her feel. She proceeded to sit down, and said, "Your right, and that is just what I loved about him. He could get under my skin like no other, and I had long realized he got me riled up just so we could make up. If you know what I mean. Thank you for little trip down memory lane." Morgana finished with a small depressed look.

"Yes, unfortunately I know exactly what you mean, in vivid detail even." Harry answered back.

Questioningly Morgana looked at Harry. "What do you mean and exactly how are you related to Emry's and I, did he remarry after I died ? How were you able to charge the foci so fast when it took Emry's himself almost a full day to charge each? How long has it been since we died ?" she asked one quickly after the other, not giving him time to answer. "Well!" she exclaimed.

"I was waiting for you to run out of steam!" Harry answered back.

"Well I never.." Morgana huffed.

"Now that's not true, I can remember several times, when Emry's proposed, when he shut your mother down when she tried to tell you, you could not marry him, the honeymoon, the time the founders told you the name they chose for the school .." Harry started only to be interrupted by Morgana again.

"How do you know all of that? How long have you spent with Emry's projection?" Morgan exclaimed.

".. Well you see that power and training transfer of the crystal did not work exactly how it was intended. Due to certain abilities and blood abnormalities within me, instead of getting the a power boost, the knowledge and understanding of his magical discoveries and experiences, I got all his experiences. I lived his life from the time he was born till the time he died, unfortunately that means everything .... including his life with you." Harry explained with a slight blush as certain memories came to the surface when he talked. He may have lived Merlin's life, but he was still a young man and Morgana had been a very attractive and active woman. "As for how long I spent with the projection, mm... about ten minutes when I left my wife with him so she would be preoccupied when I went through the rest of my inheritance rituals, as the last one sort of scarred her." Harry explained.

Morgana just stared at Harry as she processed what he had told her. "Ok, now how about my other questions, and did you say rituals as in multiple? How many are we talking about?" she recovered and asked.

"Well in reverse order so I don't forget any. I have 28 remaining major rituals after this one, as well as 79 other less sever ones according to the goblins." Harry answered and waited a second for Morgana to process that from the shocked look on her face, and them continued, "Not sure exactly how long it has been since you passed away, but the year is 1992." again stopping as Morgana's face went blank. 'This is going to take a while' Harry thought to himself.

...

 

[Head of the DMLE, Amelia Bones Office, Ministry for Magic]

Amelia is looking through a number of files on her desk and comparing them to the list of the infected.

'Well, it does seem like Albus was on to something, the majority of these names match known or suspected Death Eaters, and the others may just not have been considered and escaped prosecution. The only notable exceptions are Sirius Black, as he still seems to be healthy and Albus himself. Unfortunately with Albus being inflicted with this, I will not be able to get the support to lift the quarantine from St Mungo's until the Wizengamot is called to order, and without Albus to call the meeting and support the theory, we are going to have a tough time getting the majority needed to believe it.... I think I am going to need to call in a couple favors to get enough evident to support this..' Amelia thought to herself, moving toward her fireplace. Throwing a handful of floo power in she called out "Alastor Moody, are you there?"

She waited for about ten seconds when a voice answered back, "Who wants to know?"

Laughing at the old aurors paranoia, "Alastor it is Amelia Bones, I am sure you are aware of the current health situation. I need you to report to my office immediately, as I need your particular skills to take a look at something for me." Amelia answered back.

"What did I say to you the last time you tried to reactivate me?" Moody voice called back from the flames.

'Same old Moody' Amelia thought to herself before answering back, "It would be a frozen day in hell before you would work for the likes of the incompetent fool like Fudge and his lackeys, even for someone with an ass as nice as mine."

"So why would I come back." Moody fired back.

"Because I am calling the one personal favor you still owe me, plus this was a theory from Albus." Amelia answered back.

"Damn! Alright given me ten minutes." Moody answered as the floo connection was cut.

"Same old, Moody. Some things never change." Amelia said to herself, before throwing another handful of floo power into the floo and calling out, "Auror Shacklebolt, report to my office at once... and bring cadet Tonks with you I may have need of her talents as well.." she finished.

"Right away." Shack answered back a male voice as the floo connection closed.

'Now I wait.' Amelia thought to herself.

...

 

[Inside the LeFay vault.]

"Ok I accept that you are related to Emrys though his phoenix, and while unbelievable as it sounds, I understand your physical transformation from the boy you were to who you are now, but how did you come to be the heir of so many houses. Plus since you have not accepted those houses and the additional power from the head of house position, how were you able to power the foci that fast, I still don't understand." Morgana asked while still lost on everything she had heard over the past half hour.

"Right well this is the working theory Merlin, myself and Rosa have and it seems to be possible, just not exactly believable. But I am quickly learning that does not mean as much as it once did. Let me get this out before you object, as I know you are going to, just trust me then you can cast your doubts." Harry stated.

"Fine, go ahead." Morgana answered back.

"When Rosa and I reentered our bodies, we came back too soon, we were caught in a stage of bonding that required a great deal of magical energy to complete, but as we had not completed out regeneration, we were both low on energy and time was short. As I mentioned earlier, it was explained to me that I should be able to absorb available magic energy the same was as I channel just by reversing the process. So when I returned, and while fighting through the pain I was enduring during the final stages of regeneration I went looking for a non-corrupted power source that I could use to complete the bonding ritual. I looked but could not find anything, and the painful cries from Rosa pushed me to do something foolish. Go figure. I came across what appeared to be a lay line under the floor, and started to pull power from it through the floor. Ah, wait for it, that is not the foolish part yet." Harry corrected her when she started to interrupt before continuing, "Unfortunately the process was too slow and time was running out, so I channel what power I did have into a direct cutting blast and removed the floor blocking access to the lay line."

"You didn't!" Morgana exclaimed now knowing what the foolish part was.

"I did, and please wait till I am done. I reached out and grabbed the lay line.. Yes I know it should have vaporized me, but it didn't. Emrys theory is that I was still in flux during my first regeneration. Due to the fact that this was my first regeneration and the fact that my body form was still being optimized, instead of vaporizing me, the pure magical energy of the lay line was somehow adapted into my form as it was being finalized, this lead to my body being able to channel and accept the energy to fill my core and provided me with the needed energy to complete the bonding." Harry concluded.

"But that is not possible anything touching a lay line would not have the time to adapt, you would just cease to exist." Morgana stated astonished at what she was hearing.

"I agree, but since there also seems to be some form of prophecy or legend at work with my life, the theory is that fate intervened and allowed the impossible to be possible. Look if I do not partially focus on keeping the energy at bay.." Harry started as he began to glow with the white blue energy he had absorbed before the bonding. "..that is the exact color of the lay line I grabbed. I don't understand how I know how to control it, it is just instinctual. It was not as bad before I went through my force majority when I complete the ritual for Emry's family, but with his added power and the increase of my core size once again, the power just seems to self regenerate and when I release it, it is the same untainted power the lay line provided, hence how I charged the foci so rapidly. As for how I came to be the head of so many families, that comes from the teaching Emrys phoenix gave me during my regeneration. He had observed Emrys modification of the Spoil of War spell and he had a theory I could hurt Voldemort by claiming my rights before his return. It seems his theory was correct as it worked, however we discover Voldemort's power had been being augmented by a sort of bonding he did with his faithful followers, so when I cast the spell and added enough energy to it, I not only claimed over half his powers but the power, titles and belongings to any of his marked followers. Adding that to my already enlarged core over charged me and send me in to a magical sleep to adapter further." Harry finished.

"Well that sounds like a theory Emrys would have come up with. Unfortunately I can find no fault with it given the facts I have been provided. It also explains why you lived Emrys entire life instead of just the memories he planned to give you." Morgana explained with a disturbed look on her face.

Noticing the look Harry asked, "Ok what is that look for, and why do I believe it does not mean good things for me." 

"Well let me explain. As you know the memory crystals are one of Emrys inventions, he had to actually grow the memory gems from scratch and then they were bonded to us. The information that is supposed to be shared is based on the power of the heir accepting them, so to not overwhelm the heir. I believe Emrys miscalculated your true power as he was not seeing the pure energy aura you showed me, so your true power was much more than anticipated. Being that powerful would cause a transfer of the entire memory crystal, it was not a foreseen outcome as we used Emrys power level as a scale figuring the chance of an heir also having the power boost Emrys received from his phoenix bonding was very unlikely, that is until you. Now for the problems you are about to face. As you also know Emrys grew crystals for all the original seven members of the Wizard Councils..." Morgana explained only for Harry to interrupt.

"And I am about to claim all of the other six lines, which means .. I have to go through that six more times." Harry exclaimed, quickly thinking about the difficult he had merging the last batch of memories while maintaining his own identity, and dreading six more repeats, not to mention several of them were female.

"Unfortunately yes, and there maybe more, as we do not know if anyone made anything similar to Emrys crystal over the past thousand years or so. " Morgan answered back.

Thinking things over and knowing he had spent more time than expected here, he knew what he had to do. He did not like it, but he knew he could not avoid it. "Well we had better get started then, as I have the other five after this and I need to get the other rituals done within the next day or so, before the wizarding world rips itself apart. As far I remember only you and Emrys had the foci projectors so at least I will not have to explain this all again over and over, however I may make projectors for the others in the future so I can converse with them face to face as it were." Harry explained as he stood up.

Morgana understanding the magnitude of what her young heir was about to undergo, stood up and hugged him. "May the gods continue to watch over you my young heir... One good thing to consider, once you complete the rituals you will have the combined knowledge of three witches, which means you will have knowledge and understand of how a woman really thinks, that alone is knowledge no man has ever had." Morgana said trying to lighten the mood.

Chuckling lightly at the attempt, "Ah yes, but is it knowledge any man ever really wanted." Harry answer back with mirth in his voice.

"You gained too much of Emrys personality, hopefully you can temper that with what you will gain. One last bit of warning, I remember talking to Ignotus before my death and he mentioned something about trying to add memories of his two departed brothers to his crystal. I don't know how he planned to do it as he only said he had some type of way to access there memories but would not explain how. I mention this so you can prepare yourself so you are not caught off guard." Morgana added.

"Thanks I will plan on that being the last one of the day so I can rest afterward. We should begin." Harry answered back.

"Correct." Standing regally and putting her hand over Harry's heart, Morgana continued, "As guardian of the LeFay family, I hereby grant control of the family name, line and all material and non-material possessions to our recognized heir, Harry James Potter. So mote it be."

And with a bright flash that drained the power from the foci and crystal the transfer began, the lights dimmed inside the vault, as Harry started to glow. Memories and the life experiences of Morgana LeFay raced into Harry's mind, her power was added to his already enhanced core as the memories were relived, the skills and abilities where committed to memory just as Emry's had been. Thankfully or not, Morgana had not been immortal as her life span was only 68 years, but after the transfer, Harry understood that while brief, Morgana had lived a good life, her only regret was not having been able to give Emry's the son he deserved before she passed on. With that last thought entering his mind, Harry collapsed to the ground as he processed the influx of new energy and memories. 

After ten minutes Harry started to move again, pulling himself back to his chair and then to a standing position.

"Are you alright Harry?" Morgana's voice called out.

"Yeah, two down, five more crystal to go for today. I will come back sometime to explain how things go, I promise. I'll also bring Rosa as she will want to meet you as well." Harry explained as he walked to the door opening it and leaving only to stick his head back in and called out, "Until then, see you around Leafy!" Harry then withdrew and closed the door.

"Oh! I will make you ..." could be heard as the door closed and Harry turned chuckling to himself as he faced the surprised looks on both of Ragnok and Griphook faces.

"I see you have a way with women, I am not sure if it is a good way or suicidal, but to each his own. I take everything went well?" Ragnok asked.

"You could say that, however due to knowledge I gained from this ritual I believe that once we finish the remaining five down on this level, we will need to call it a day as I will definitely be needing the rest. Now who is next on the torture Harry Potter tour?" Harry answered back.

Shocked at the change in attitude of Lord Potter, Ragnok looked toward Griphook and then back to the ledger and stated "Right the rest of the order on this floor is Gryffindor, then Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Huffelpuff, and finally Peverell", as Ragnok started to move toward the Gryffindor vault.

"Right let us get these done, before the wife gets done talking to uncle and comes looking to find out what is happening." Harry answered back, surprised at how fast Ragnok and Griphook moved to the next vault, almost as if they were scared of something.

"For all of the founders vaults you will need to put your hand in the circle near the handle and state your name and claim, similar to the LeFay vault it will judge you worthy or not." Ragnok explained.

Placing his hand in the circle Harry stated, "My name is Harry James Potter, I claim the head of the Gryffindor family by right of blood", there his stood for a couple seconds waiting until a clicking of locks could be heard and the door opened and Harry went inside. Just as the door closed the call of a Griffin could be heard, and Harry's voice cried out, "Bloody Hell, that is just not fair!"

Ragnok looked at Griphook, and Griphook looked back, and both said at the same time, "You explain that to Lady Emrys." Griphook knowing he was the lower ranking member accepted he had no choice, so he hoped everything would be okay with the young lord.

...

 

[Gringott's lowest vault floor, outside the Peverell vault, may hours later]

Ragnok and Griphook were sitting on stools outside the vault. 

"I'm not quite sure of what to make of young Lord Emrys. Each time he goes through a ritual his very personality seems to be altered." Ragnok stated.

"I know, I remember him as this meek young kid just a year ago, then after his recovery of the Emry's ritual he seemed older than his years" Griphook answered back.

"Yes, I know that upon completing a ritual that wizards inherit family magic but this seems like something more, not to mention, he has endured what appears to be Griffin claw marks, some type of bird attack, there appeared to be scales of some sort in his hair from Slytherin's vault, and I have no clue what the sound out of Hufflepuff's vault was, and am not sure I want to know." Ragnok summarized.

"Yes at least this is the last one, and it seems .... Oh no !" Griphook stopped in midsentence as movement caught his eye.

"What.. By the gods I hope Lord Emrys is done very soon..... Greeting Lady Emry's." Ragnok greeted the seemingly upset looking Lady Emry's as she quick approached.

"Where is he ?" Rosa demanded.

Both Ragnok and Griphook pointed to the vault door. 

"How long has he been in there?" Rosa asked.

Griphook looked at the clock on the wall and then back to Lady Emry's, "A little over two hours." Griphook answered.

"Two hours. Wait how long was I in the vault?" Rosa asked.

"Um.. A little more than seven hours I believe." Griphook answered.

"Seven Hours, oh I am going to kill him. Did he take any breaks? Did you check him over before letting him continue ? Was he hurt ?" Rosa fired off questions.

"You know I don't seem to recall if he took any breaks, but he did want to continue so he could get back to you." Griphook answered.

"Yes, I agree he wanted to get back to you as soon as he could" Ragnok added.

"And ???" Rosa asked staring both goblins down, both would swear they saw actual flames in her eyes as she was staring.

"There may have been some small injuries, but nothing that hindered his progress.." Ragnok added.

"What injuries exactly !" Rosa demanded.

"Well you see, there was ..." Ragnok started.

"Nothing to worry about.." Harry's voice called out from the vault door, no one having seen or heard the vault door opening, but relief showed in the goblins faces.

"Harry !" Rosa cried out as she launched herself at Harry catching him in a fierce hug, not noticing the look of pain on his faces as she did.

"I'm fine, a little worn out and very hungry." Harry looked down at Rosa with an innocent look in his eyes and no signs of pain on his face.

"Are you sure you are okay, what happened, why did you take seven hours?" Rosa fired off, adding "What aren't you telling me?" 

"I'll explain things over dinner as I believe we missed lunch, and I need to turn in so I can tackle the rest of the rituals tomorrow and maybe get things returning to normal the next day." Harry answered as he moved toward Ragnok and Griphook, Rosa at his side. "What do you think Ragnok, if this a good place to stop for the day." Harry stated.

"Perfect Harry, as we can start on the other floors tomorrow morning." Ragnok looked relieved to be getting out of explaining the injuries Harry has received to Lady Emrys, then motioned everyone to the lifts.

...  
[Gringotts, Private Guest Chambers of Lady and Lord Emrys, Three Hours Later]

Harry and Rosa are in bed. Rosa is cuddle up to Harry's side her head on his chest, listening to his heart as he is laying on his back.

"Harry, why did you lie to Ragnok, Griphook and I at dinner about what happened?" Rosa asked softly.

Looking down at Rosa and smiling at her, "I have been waiting for you to ask. As for your answer, I did not lie so much as I left a great deal out. They did not need to know what exactly happened, and just trust me when I say you do not want to know the exact details of what happened. But to answer your unasked questions, not only did I gain the family magic and access to the vast family magical knowledge, but all of the living memories of the original wizards council. Do you remember when we bonded how we lived each other's lives?" Harry asked.

"Yes. " Rosa answered looking up a Harry.

"It was like that, but with the enhanced memory abilities I gained from bonding with you and the magical power I gained from the lay line, I actually lived the lives as each of the original founders, Merlin and Morgana, as well as all three of the Peverell brothers. All their hardships, triumphs, gains, losses and deaths. My minds is still processing the information, trying to keep me, me. I keep finding myself thinking like one of them before I remember to review their memories but decided for myself. It is hard to explain, and would have been even harder to relate to Ragnok and Griphook. Since you went through something similar when we bonded I figured you might understand a bit." Harry explained.

"How many years do you figure you relived, in addition to mine?" Rosa asked curiously

"Well a little less than 500 from Emrys, 68 from Morgana, 123 from Godric, 138 from Rowena, 112 from Sal, 133 from Helga, 69 from Antioch, 81 from Cadmus and 122 from Ignotus, so in addition to yours another 1300 years or so, give or take a hundred as I maybe off on Godric, Sal and Emrys as they seemed to have used several different calendars early in life and I am guessing at exact birthdays." Harry explained.

"How are you managing all those memories." Rosa asked concerned about Harry's mental state.

"By using you as my anchor as my mind tries to make sense of everything. I know we have some unfinished business from this morning, but I think I will need to sleep to recover and tomorrow night will probably be the same, but I promise I do want to continue. Hell with as many memories I have running around in my head, I now understand even better exactly what I am missing, so please bare with me a little longer." Harry pleaded as sleep was trying to claim him.

"I understand, I really do, just be careful as I do plan to collect and with interest." Rosa exclaimed.

"As my Lady commands. Good night my wife." Harry stated, then kissed Rosa on the forehead and snuggled himself closer to her before finally giving in to exhaustion.

"Good night, my husband." Rosa said to herself and fell asleep listening to the steady beat of Harry's heart.

...


	18. Chapter 18

[Gringotts, Ragnok's Office, early the next morning.]

Ragnok is reviewing the Daily Prophet.

MAGICAL ILLNESS COUNT NOW AT 96!   
by Rita Skeeter

The magical illness that has been sweeping magical Britain seem to have come to rest at 96 infected. Since we reported exclusively about Headmaster Albus Dumbledore being infected, there have been no new outbreaks reported. The illness seemed to hit the pure-blood of our community the hardest as final totals on the infected have it at 63 pure-blood, and 33 half-blood infected. We find the fact that no muggleborn or first generation witch or wizards were infected suspicious. However a confidential source within St. Mungo's has theorized that since many muggleborn witch and wizards are given inoculations against muggle diseases, that this illness may be a variation of one of the diseases that they were treated against, which would explain why no muggleborn infections have been reported. If this is that fact, we still find it suspicious that a muggle disease would target the magical core of some of our societies finest. 

Ragnok put the paper down, 'Societies finest? Societies most corrupt maybe, but not finest. I wonder how much the Prophet would pay to be pointed in the direction of the common thread or should I say mark, in these cases.' he thought to himself. Pressing a button on his desk, a moment later Griphook entered.

"You wanted to see me Director?" Griphook asked.

"Yes, Griphook, I think it is time for an another anonymous tip to the Prophet on the common connection to these so called illnesses. Maybe even a suggestion of a Ministry cover-up as the identities of some of these families have been hidden from public record. Let this one come from a source near St. Mungo's. Let's see how greedy they get for this bit of information." Ragnok said with a smile.

"Of course, I will get right on that. In addition, Lord and Lady Emrys has just arrived and are ready to continue." Griphook added as he left the office.

"Thank you Griphook, show them in." Ragnok responded as Harry and Rosa enter the office.

"Ah, Harry and my lady, are you ready for another day of adventure and capital gain!" Ragnok said with a grin.

"You know, I am not sure if I should thank you or hate you for that. You seem to be getting too much enjoyment about all this." Harry said skeptically.

"Well why wouldn't I, you are reactivating a huge sum of wealth which will in turn generate more business than this branch has seen in decades, maybe even centuries, and as Director I receive a bonus of the increase of business, so I am extremely happy about what is happening. The fact that you have also single handedly taken care of the bulk of the worst offenders toward the goblin nation in magical Britain is just a bonus." Ragnok exclaimed happily, "now are you two ready, we need to get this done as soon as possible, I will need to open the bank within the next two days, and we want to be completed before then."

Rosa and Harry looked at one another and then back to Ragnok, "Of course, lead on." Harry answered back

"Great, follow me." Ragnok replied as he lead them toward his private lift.

...

 

 

[Gringotts, Private Guest Chambers of Lady and Lord Emrys, late the next Evening]

Harry was passed out on the bed again, he looked exhausted, like he went ten rounds with a dragon and lost. He was glowing with the same blue white energy he had after their bonding. A worried Rosa wiped down his face with a cool rag and then rinsed it out in the basin on the table next to the bed. She went to repeat the process only to be shocked by a spark of energy coming from Harry.

"Damn it, that hurts!" Rosa exclaimed, putting the rag back in the basin. Taking a seat next to Harry careful not to get to close, so she wasn't shocked again, Rosa closes her eyes.

'Harry, can you hear me.' Rosa projected at Harry along their bond.

After a minute when Rosa was about to give up and allow Harry to continue doing whatever he was doing she heard back, 'Barely. There is so much clutter in my head as I am trying to sort all this information, memories, families, history, memories, abilities, training, skills, more memories, can't forget them, and oh did I mention more bloody memories! On top of that I am trying to redirect this energy to repair the stress damage I took from those 109, how did Ragnok explain them, 'Less Sever' inheritance rituals, not that the major ones didn't do me in anyway.' 

'I am so glad you are okay, do you think you could pull back your power levels a little, you keep giving me shocks.' Rosa sent back.

'I'll try... Hold on a second...' Harry answered back, after about ten minutes the visible energy surround Harry diminished and was no longer visible, 'That is about the best I can do right now, is that better?" he asked.

Reach her hand and touch Harry lightly Rosa was relieved not to be shocked again. 'Yes , that seems to have worked for now. Try to get some rest, according to Ragnok all hell is breaking loose in the wizarding world, and you need to start fixing it tomorrow as they plan to reopen the bank. the day after tomorrow.' Rosa explained.

'No pressure there.' Harry answered back. 'Rest, I will see you in the morning, one way or the other.' he finished.

'Good luck, my husband.' Rosa sent as she got into bed with Harry, covered them both up and curled into Harry.

'Good night, my wife.' Harry sent back.

....

[St. Mungo's, Dumbledore's Room]

Dumbledore woke up slowly, feeling exhausted even though he had been asleep for over thirty hours. He took in his surroundings, trying to remember what happened, when a nurse came in and saw he was awake.

"Ah! you're awake! You have been a sleep for the past day and half." the nurse stated, while casting a message spell.

"That long? I didn't contract the illness did I?" Albus asked, hoping his theory wasn't wrong and he hadn't been infected by his contact with Severus, he didn't feel different, just tired.

"We don't think so. We originally thought you might have, but upon examination we determined your core wasn't reduced, just in extreme exhaustion." the nurse started but was interrupted by Poppy coming in.

"Albus, I am so glad you are awake, you would not believe what the world is doing to itself. Witches and wizards are afraid to leave their homes, their blaming each other for this outbreak and to top it off the Goblins have kept their doors closed until they can be assured this is not contagious. The wizarding world has come to a standstill as very few can pay for anything and most are too afraid to leave their homes." Poppy exclaimed.

"I am glad to be awake and seemingly not infected, as I cannot remember how I got here. Would you care to explain it to me?" Albus stated calmly as he sat up.

"Right, well it seems you worked yourself into extreme exhaustion and collapsed in the middle of a conversation with Professor Flitwick. The nurses brought you up here thinking you had come down with the illness. Once we determined your core was not reduced and was slowly recovering, we theorized you were going to be okay, and moved you here for observation just in case this was the first stage of the illness. I am glad to say it does not appear to be the illness, just exhaustion. What had you been doing to drain your core that significantly?" Poppy asked.

"I can honestly say, I am not sure. I remember falling asleep at the Leaky Cauldron were I was staying the night before I got back and was so tired I slept most of the day away, which caused my late return. I can honestly say I have been feeling tired ever since then." Albus explained.

"Well you are on your way to recovery, I would say your should be back to acceptable levels in the morning, but I want you to stay there until then. You have received quite a bit of mail since news of your illness broke, so you have plenty of reading to keep you busy until tomorrow." Poppy explained point to a piles of letters that covered most of the far side of the room.

"Ah, do you by chance know if anything was sent from Amelia Bones, I was waiting on confirmation on a theory I had on the infected." Albus explained.

"What theory? Albus if you have even a guess it might be worth us checking it out." Poppy exclaimed at the first possible good news since the outbreak began.

Albus thinking of how much too tell her, figured if he was ever going to get out of here and contact Gringott's about the Potter estate, he was going to need to explain his theory. "You see Filius and I were talking to a number of the family members of the infected and I started to realize that all the infected, were either confirmed, suspected or imperiused death eaters. I had Amelia check the Wizengamot's records for confirmation." he explained.

"If that's the case all the infected should have the dark mark, I don't remember seeing anything." Poppy explained.

"Yes, well you see once Voldemort was defeated the mark started to fade, so you will have to cast a detection spell on their forearms to confirm. I thought this might be the case as all the infected were found the night after Mr. Potter defeated that memory of Voldemort. This might be some sort of magical backlash through the remaining portions of the dark mark. Remember this is only a theory, but the facts seem to be pointing in that direction." Albus stated.

"Right, well I will get the medical team here working on it. If Amelia sent you something it would be in there." pointing to the pile, "I'm sorry but your wand has been quarantined with the rest of your belongs until we can be absolutely sure you are not in the early stages of the illness. Until then we can't release it as everything is within a stasis charm. Hopefully your theory will pan out and everything can get back to some semblance of normal. Until then you will have to sort through the mail by hand. Good hunting and let me know if you find anything. In the meanwhile I will have the staff start casting that detection spell." Poppy called out as she left Albus to his mail.

"Of course, let's start looking for the needle in the proverbial haystack." Albus said to himself reaching for the first stack of mail.

...

 

[Head of the DMLE, Amelia Bones Office, Ministry for Magic]

The office is filled with boxes and tomes of all different sizes. An exhausted Amelia Bones is still scanning through a ledger of court dates from 1981. 

'This is ridiculous, I have to remember to kill Fudge, if he wouldn't have cut our clerical staff, we would have found the information by now. With all my Aurors handling the civil unrest, I'm doing this all myself while he hides in his office. 'Yes, Kill Fudge or make his life hell and then kill Fudge.' Amelia thinks to herself. 

The door to her office opens and a house elf levitates in two more stacks of books, ledgers and boxes. 

"These be the last of the material yous be requesting Mistress Bones." the elf explained as the material lower to the only open spot left on the floor.

"Great more stuff to look through!" Amelia huffed as the house elf looked like he had done something wrong, but was not sure what.

"Is there anythings else I can dos for you Mistress ?" the elf asked hoping not to upset his mistress.

"No, that will be all." Amelia responded flipping the next page of the ledger as the house elf 'POPPED' away.

 

...

 

[Gringotts, Ragnok's Office, later that same evening]

Ragnok sits reviewing the final audits of all the account Harry now controls, with a toothy grin. 'When the bank opens in the morning this should be interesting' he thinks to himself just as there is a knock at the door. "Enter" he calls out as he presses the button to unlock the door.

Griphook walks in with an equally toothy smile, "Director you wanted to see this as soon as it arrived." Griphook explained as he handed a copy of a special edition Daily Prophet to the Director.

"Ah Yes, let's see what they have to say for themselves this evening, I notice the deposit for 2000 galleons for this latest bit of information. 4000 galleons has to be a record for information sale, how did you convince them of such a high amount?" Ragnok inquired as he unfolded the paper.

"With the help of a glamour they believed they were talking to a high ranking med-wizard that was risking his career as well as risking his life for releasing the identities of some of the infected families, as well as the current theory on how the members of society actually were affected." Griphook explained all the while smirking.

"Yes, that was a great risk that med-wizard took. Now let's see what they made of it." Ragnok exclaimed as he started to read.

 

NOT AN ILLNESS, BUT AN ATTACK TARGETING DEATH EATERS!  
By Rita Skeeter

That is right my fellow citizens, the illness we have been fearing these past couple days is anything but! According to a confidential source inside St Mungo's, whom asked to remain anonymous out of fear of professional and physical reprisals let this reporter know that the current theory at St. Mungo's is that all 96 infected wizards and witches are actually current and previously marked DEATH EATERS. As you know the DEATH EATERS were the heart of the army for he-who-must-not-be-named during the last war. 

The theory is based on the identities of the infected being compared to the names of suspected or known DEATH EATERS during the end of the war tribunals. In addition our source also included that detection scans were being conducted to confirm the residue of the famous DARK MARK carried by the DEATH EATERS. 

It is unfortunate that this attack effected some of our societies finest which had been marked while under the Imperious curse during the last war, but while it explains how the affected were targeted, it does not explain how they were attacked.

Three major discoveries due to this theory however come in the forms of Albus Dumbledore, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. Lets looks at these three shall we.

Albus Dumbledore, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Order of Merlin First Class, and Headmaster of Hogwarts Schools of Wizardry. Could it be that Albus Dumbledore used his name, clout and positions to remove his name from the list of suspected DEATH EATERS? Have we allowed a follower of he-who-must-not-be-named to teach our children for the past twelve years influencing a generation of followers? Is he really the Leader of the Light or a Death Eater in disguise. Does that explain why this information has not been released to the media through proper channels, did he somehow suppress it before falling victim to the attack himself? 

Next we have Sirius Black, the betrayer of Lord & Lady Potter, murderer of Peter Pettigrew and at least thirteen muggles on that fateful day back in 1981. The renowned right hand DEATH EATER of he-who-must-not-be-named who is still currently fulfilling a life sentence in Azkaban as an unaffected DEATH EATER in custody.

And finally Peter Pettigrew, the victim of Sirius Black, friend of the Potters and Order of Merlin Third Class recipient. What about Peter you might ask? Well my fellow readers it was interesting for this reporter to discover that not only is Peter Pettigrew alive, but he is one of the infected. He was discovered inside Hogwarts, in the very dorm that the late Harry Potter slept in. I would like to know if Mr Pettigrew is alive, why has he been hiding all this time. If he is alive and is affected, did Sirius Black kill those muggles, and did he really betray the Potters. This reporter has requested the transcripts of the Black trial, but due to the confusion this so called ILLNESS has caused we have not been able to review them, but we will.

Is this a cover-up? Are there more infected that we don't know about, just to hide certain families from being exposed? Did our Ministry convict Sirius Black of a crime he did not commit, are they trying to hide the truth? More to come.

 

[pg 3 - List of the infected/possible Death Eaters among us]

 

Ragnok put the paper down with a grin so large you could almost see his back teeth. "Griphook make sure a copy of this is ready for Harry first thing in the morning. Also make sure to have him woke no later than four as he will want to review everything before we open at ten, as I believe it is time we reopen and get back to business" Ragnok explained.

"Of course Director." Griphook nodded, then left the office.

'Let the fun begin.' Ragnok thought to himself.

...

 

[Head of the DMLE, Amelia Bones Office, Ministry for Magic]

Amelia is sleeping at her desk, with her head on top of a court ledger when a knocking at the door wakes her. "Uhm.... Enter" she calls out as she tried to wake up.

The door opens and Kingsley Shacklebolt enters, looking at exhausted boss. "Madam Bones, you might want to see this!" Kingsley exclaims as he hands Amelia a copy of the special edition Prophet.

Amelia opens the paper and quickly scans the article getting redder as she goes. "How did they get this information, I have been reviewing the records for the past two days!" Amelia exclaims pointing to the piles around her office.

"I don't know, but if that information in true, things are going to get interesting , fast. That list includes over sixty members of the Wizengamot and more than fifty members of the Ministry, not to mention Albus Dumbledore. Also if their information is correct about Sirius Black, a Lord of an Ancient and Most Noble house has been convicted of a crime he didn't commit, you can only image what the fallout from that is going to be." Kingsley added.

Thinking about it for a minute and scanning the list she had made Amelia responded, "You don't know the half of it. I reviewed the case logs from all the cases from the war tribunals after finally getting Fudge to release them, and there is no record of a trial for Sirius Black, just a notation of his sentence. You think convicting him wrongly will cause a stir, what do you think will happen if the other Lords find out one of their own was sentence without a trial?" 

"Bloody Hell !" Kingsley responded.

"It gets worse." Amelia started.

"How?" Kingsley asked.

"Sirius Black was the godfather of Harry Potter and should have been his guardian according to tradition. His rights were withheld by his conviction and Harry was put into the custody of Albus Dumbledore, who placed him with Lily Potter's muggle sister. With this cover-up theory floating that Albus is an unknown Death Eater, who helped put Sirius Black away, what do you think the press will come up with when that bit of information is discovered?" Amelia answered back.

"Bloody Fucking Hell, this is going to be a shit storm of epic proportions, even if Albus is cleared of being a death eater, this is going to cause some big problems, mostly if Sirius is proven innocent." Kingsley added.

"Yes, Sirius would most likely inherit the Potter estate as he would have had control until Harry came of age and would use both the Black and Potter seats on the Wizengamot to call for an inquiry into Harry's death..." Amelia explained while filling out a form from her desk and handing it to Kingsley.

"Kingsley I want you to round up two trusted Aurors, that don't have family on that list and head out to Azkaban, pickup Sirius Black and bring him here and put him in a secure holding cell. Make sure not to let your guard down in case this is all a misunderstanding, but if it isn't and what I fear happened, happened, I want to get things moving on this case as soon as possible. Lord Greengrass is the current acting Chief during Dumbledore's absence, and I know they are planning to call the Wizengamot to order in the morning to try to restore control of things. I can only imagine this article and the accusations made against Albus will be their first order of business. If the claims against Black are true we may be able to get this resolved before the media gets hold of the rest of the facts. That way we can do some damage control before the chaos gets much worse." Amelia explained.

"Right , I will get right on it. If they do call this to order in the morning let me know as I will have to bring Black directly to the Wizengamot as it will take the remained of the night and early morning to get there and back." Kingsley replied.

"I will contact you when I know now go." Amelia ordered as Kingsley leaves. 'I hope these theories aren't true, but I think at least parts of them are. Albus if I were you I would hope you wake by morning and can prove you are not affected or I would say your days are numbered.' Amelia thought to herself as she made her way out of her office heading for home, she would need to go and change for the Wizengamot session in the morning.

...

[St. Mungo's, Private Room of Albus Dumbledore]

Albus is still sifting through his mail looking for correspondence from Amelia, already looking exhausted having sifted through a little more than half of the mail, when the door to his room opens and Madam Pomfrey enters hold a news paper.

"Albus you are going to want to see this." Pomfrey exclaims handing over the paper.

Albus quickly scans over the article as his eyebrows get lost in his hair as the shock of the accusation of him being a death eater is discovered. "This is insane, I am not a death eater and the people should know that. I am the Leader of the Light, not some unknown Death Eater, Poppy I need to be released from here immediately. A meeting of the Wizengamot will be called as it is procedure if the current Chief is accused of a crime, I need to be there to prove my innocence, and I will need my wand back as well." Albus explained

"Albus, you might want to read the rest of the article first. I will see about getting your wand back and getting you released as we have determined that all the affected so far do have the residue of the dark mark, but I cannot guarantee anything. Either way you might want to look at the rest of that article as there are questions that you are going to need to address." Poppy answered back as she left to see what she could do.

Albus continues to read and thinks, 'They had discover that Peters been found alive, this could cause problems if they look into Blacks trial, or lack thereof. I know I went along with Crouch's suggestion of throwing him in Azkaban as it opened up custody of Harry, for the Greater Good, but this could be a problem. If he is given access to the Potter account, which he will be by his rights as guardian, he could call for an audit, I need to make sure the goblins have destroyed the records of my withdrawals before he see the books. I can only hope that with the fact that Harry is dead, Sirius will be too distressed to look into things right away as I make sure everything is covered up.'

...

[Azkaban Prison, cell of Sirius Black]

Sirius is laying on the floor in his animagus form trying to keep warm in the cold temperatures caused by the dementors. Luckily the dementors effects were less to animal minds, and they were not directly attracted to animals, so this allowed Sirius a little escape from his lifetime sentence of torture.

Slowly the temperature started to rise, this was the sign that the dementors had been recalled and guards were on their way. Sirius quickly changed back to his human form and took a seat on the cell floor against the back wall to be hard to see and out of the general reach of anything the guards might throw at him, as they were known to do. Moments later the tell tale signs of footsteps were heard and the light of a lumos spell could be seen. A knocking on the cell door was heard as the light got brighter and Sirius had to squint due to the sudden light.

"Sirius Black.. Get up and approach the cell door, you are being taken to be questioned." a guard called out.

Sirius stood up slowly while shaking, belying his true condition. "Finally... Only took twelve years, do I get a trial now too, or will that be another decade" Sirius called out with a cracking voice from disuse, as he approached the door slowly.

'Great! Amelia was right, they didn't give him a trial' Kingsley thought to himself before he spoke up, "Sirius, it had been brought to the attention of the Department of Magic Law Enforcement that your suspected victim Peter Pettigrew is alive, and that your were not given the chance to defend yourself before being sentenced. You are being remanded to the custody of the DMLE until this matter can be resolved." Kingsley finished.

"The rat has been captured! Great now I can prove I'm innocent and find Harry and try to explain what happened." Sirius called out as his reached the door showing the first signs of hope on his face in over a decade.

Kingsley did not have the heart to explain that Harry was gone, "Well lets be on our way, so we can get this matter resolved one way or the other." Kingsley stated while thinking, 'I think I will wait until he is in a holding cell so he does not go berserk and hurt himself or anyone else, before I tell him about Harry'

Sirius put his hands through the middle opening on the bars as magic suppression cuffs were put on. The cell door was opened and he was lead out toward the doors and back to civilization and a chance of freedom.

...


	19. Chapter 19

[Ragnok's Private Meeting Room, 6:00AM Wednesday Morning]

The table was covered with ledger accounts, books, and accounting books. Harry looked over the summary form of his account holdings, while Rosa, Ragnok and Griphook watched. Remains of breakfast were at the end of the table, while a platter full of bite size pastries were in the middle with tea and coffee service. Harry which looked between exhausted and pissed off looked up and started.

"So ignoring the fact that I feel like I should sit for a mastery test in accounting, and ignoring the magnitude of money I have, that's owed to my families, and how much I make in income from my investments and interest. By the way I liked the little notes about how much I make an hour and minute there in the side columns, but writing them in Gobbledegook didn't hide them. However since I do not currently hold those masteries, or want to sit for them again or for the first time or .. never mind, just give me your suggestions, then we will get to the thefts." Harry stated as he placed his hand on a yet untouched pile. 

Ragnok gave a nod toward Griphook to have him start, "Right, well as the ledgers show, now that the accounts have become active once more the original interest rates which are considerably higher than currently offered are producing an significant cash flow into your vaults, further more the collections outstanding could increase your holdings even more." Griphook started to explain. 

Harry held his hand up, "Not that I mean any disrespect Griphook, but the much I understand. I noted several names of families here" as Harry slide his notes toward Griphook, "that owe more than they are currently worth or have a income to make payments, my question is what do the numbers and symbols mean after them, and what you and Ragnok suggest we do about them. Several of those families are of classmates and some are friends of mine." Harry finished.

Griphook quickly looked over Harrys' notes, "Right well, let me explain. The number sequence at the end of each family name is how long the debt is over due in years, the second part is the agreed penalty percentage, the next part is the default percentage for penalties and so on, then the main symbols of note are as follows. The X denotes no current members, so the contents of the family vault is empty all except 10 galleons, the minimum to keep the vault open, and the debt is on hold to see if the family line is reactivated at a later date. A check mark denotes there is a family and debt collection should commence. If there is a D after the mark it means that the family will be destroyed, terminated or absorbed during debt collection. If there is a number instead of the letter D is denotes the percentage of the total value of the family that will be claimed during collection and finally the notes are suggestion on what to claim, be it gold, businesses, estates, heirloom, and so on. As the defaulted party most of the contracts leave it to the collector on how they get paid, the debtor no longer has that right as they defaulted on the original agreement." Griphook explained.

Harry slid his notes back and then did a quick calculation, "So on a quick look, I will either completely take over these families or end them, with the exception of maybe a dozen or so, is that correct ?" Harry asked.

"Correct." Griphook answered excitedly not noticing the disturbed look on Harry's face.

Ragnok however realized the issue and added, "While that is correct, it does not mean you have to. As you stated you know some of these families, so you have the option to work out arrangements, or even forgive the debt. While as a bank our recommendations would be to collect, I would recommend reviewing all records and the theft information before forgiving anything, as I believe several of those you have marked are listed. In addition I would suggest having us do in depth account audits before discussing terms of payment, and have one of us sit in the negotiations. You must remember these families entered into these agreements with your families, and then choose to default for one reason or another and that should be weighed in on any decisions. Furthermore to get to this stage they would have had to ignore numerous late notices and demands for payment."

Harry thought this over before responding, realizing he might be letting someone off the hook that had actually just not paid because they thought he or the family would not collect. "Alright I will look these over on a per family basis. I noticed the DE notations on several of the families that owe money, are these death eater families that I did not claim ?" Harry asked.

"Not exactly, those are files that correspond to debts from loans from death eater families that you took over, some of these may have been bribes hidden as loans, may have been protection payments to avoid being attacked, or payoffs to get out of trouble. I would suggest further investigations into these matters before taking action." Griphook answered.

Harry smiled at this, "I agree Griphook, as soon as things get back to some form of normal have those investigated and let me know. Now these names you have listed separately, why?" Harry asked.

"Those are the accounts we suggest foreclosing on immediately. While not death eaters, they are known supporters and have had negative dealings with your families. In addition those families hold seats in the Wizengamot which would become yours as you will be able to claim them within their debts as they will not be able to pay the accounts that are past due, and their income does not support a payment arrangement of any sort." Ragnok answered.

Harry quickly reviewed the list and then signed the action line, "Fine, I see you have markings and file numbers to support those claims, so if any of these challenge the claims they are covered. Back on to this list," Harry pulled out the original debt list, pull the paperwork on Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Hagrid. With the exception of Pettigrew, I remember the others being friends with my parents so their debts might be forgiven or payments can be applied once we read through my parent will after this review. You were able to obtain the will, correct?" Harry asked Ragnok.

"Yes, I received it late last night, and I believe it will add addition fines and penalties on several people on those lists." Ragnok answered back.

"Alright, start collections on that separate list, and lets plan for a meeting in two weeks to go over the remaining debts so we can start to get this managed..." Harry ordered.

"Good, just sign here and we can start the unfortunate business of these thefts." Ragnok stated while pointing to the as of yet untouched ledgers.

Harry quickly signed the order and applied the Potter and Emry's seals to the paperwork and turned his attention to the matter at hand.

"Now to start, let begin at the top ...." Ragnok started.

....

[St Mungo's, Quarantine Floor, 6:00A Wednesday]

Several of the effected wizards were regaining consciousness slowly, one of them being Lucius Malfoy.   
Waking up Lucius looked around the ward, almost all the beds were simply separated by curtains, and he was cuffed to the bed. 'What is going on here' Lucius thought while taking in the rest of the room, 'why am I not in a private room, and why in bloody hell am I cuffed to the bed'. Noticing a med-witch, Lucius spoke up, "You there, what is the meaning of this, do you know who I am, I demand to be released at once, and I want to talk to whoever is in charge." Lucius demanded.

The med-witch looked over at her patient, now knowing this was caused by being a marked death eater, and having never believed those that claimed to be under the imperious curse in the first place responded with a sarcastic tone. "Ah, Mr. Malfoy I see you are awake, I will just be get the auror on duty. I know how much they have been waiting for you, and the rest to awake so you all can all be questioned. As for demanding anything you will have to take it up with them." She then turned and left. 'Auror on Duty? Rest, who ? Questioned ? what is going on?' Lucius thought to himself as he started to hear the murmurs of several other people waking up.

...

[DMLE Holding Cell, 7:00A Wednesday]

A clean and freshly dressed Sirius Black, sat in the holding cell, as he heard footsteps approaching. Looking up he saw Kingsley Shacklebolt, Amelia Bones and a court approaching his cell. He quickly stood with his hands open at his sides to present the fact that he was not hiding anything.

Amelia looked at the man she once knew and was appalled by the condition the current Lord Black was in. While he had been given a new change of clothes, they hung on his extremely thin frame, his face was sunken and there were deep black bags evident under his eyes. 'For the Wizengamots sake I hope he is guilty, because if he is in fact innocent there is going to be hell to pay for anyone that allowed this to happen' Amelia thought to herself.

Kingsley had much of the same thoughts running through his head. "Sirius Black, approach the bars and present your wrists." Kingsley said trying to stay professional to a man he once called friend.

Sirius walked to the bars slid his hands through the handcuff slot while suppressor cuffs were once again placed on his wrists and then backed into his cell away from the door.

The door was opened and with a flick of his wand and a quick incantation a table and three chairs appeared, in the middle of the table was a clamp for the cuffs.

"Be seated and place the huffs in the clamp." ordered Kingsley.

Sirius quickly sat and placed his cuffs in the clamp.

Amelia sat across from Sirius, as the scribe to his seat to the side, Kingsley stood guard with his wand drawn.

"Sirius Orion Black, due to the discovery of new evidence in your case I reviewed our records, or lack thereof and found you were never questioned about the crimes you are accused of, you where never given Veritaserum to confirm guilt, and were never given a trial. This is to be rectified immediately. As soon as possible the Wizengamot will be convened and your trial will be held. In the meantime I wanted to complete the questioning under Veritaserum to prepare your case and possible defense. Do you agree to be questioned under Veritaserum?" Amelia stated.

"Yes, I do... finally" Sirius stated the later part under his breath but still heard by all.

Kingsley approached Sirius and held out the potion bottle, Sirius tilted his head back and opened his mouth without being prompted to and Kingsley dropped three drops of the potion into his mouth. Quickly a blank glossy look overtook Sirius' eyes indicating the potion had taken effect. Kingsley looked at Amelia and nodded.

"Questioning of suspected criminal Sirius Black under Veritaserum, by Head of the DMLE Amelia Bones, potion administered by Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt, Court Scribe McMillien recording..." Amelia started.

...

 

[Ragnok's Private Meeting Room, 7:30AM Wednesday Morning]

The table was now covered with even more ledger accounts, books, and accounting books. An extremely pissed off Harry was looking over the summary of the theft from his family accounts while Rosa, Ragnok and Griphook watched. Harry ran his hands down his face in a sign of frustration.

"Ragnok not that I am questioning your and Griphooks' findings here, but I would like to know how that much was taken from the vault without it raising an alarm to someone?" Harry asked calmly.

"Two goblins Tightpurse and Hookclaw were working with the majority of those listed, since Tightpurse oversaw the accounts and took care of any alerts, and he paid Hookclaw to take care of any irregularities, it allow the thefts to go unnoticed. Furthermore since you never questioned any of the withdrawls from your quarterly statements an audit was never called until your death and rebirth forced it. We were unaware of Dumbledores' involvement and his subsequent hiding of your account statements until we spoke earlier. Furthermore the withdrawls were made in small amounts at staggered times to make it look like regular expenditures and payments keeping the transactions from standing out or being noticed. Lastly since Dumbledore suppressed your parents will, his access to the vault was permitted as he was your supposed legal guardian and could take galleons from the vault for your upkeep." Ragnok explained.

"Meanwhile he dumped me with Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon and allowed me to be starved, beaten and mistreated for eleven years. Some leader of the light! . . . Ok, here is what I want you to do ..." Harry started, only to be interrupted by the sound of glass breaking from the outer office and a ruckus caused by several goblins war cries. 

"Griphook find out what is going on and get them out of my office!" Ragnok ordered. Griphook quickly bowed his head and went to leave through the adjoining door, only to have the door blow open and he was knocked back into the table by a large blur of white and light grey.

"Harry! Mine. Found you! Mine!" was heard in a female voice from the large 4' mass of white and light grey feathers. At the same time a face, even though a great deal larger, that Harry would know anywhere turn to face him, yellow eyes meeting emerald once.

"Hedwig!" Harry called out.  
"Yes. Harry, Mine!" the owl responded.

...

 

[Wizengamot Chambers, 7:30A Wednesday]

The partially filled chamber was filled with conversation and accusations, as the chamber doors opened and a weary but alert Albus Dumbledore entered and approached the podium. Lord Greengrass looked over as Dumbledore approached.

"Good morning Albus, I see you have been released from St Mungos?" Lord Greengrass asked.

"Good morning Malcolm, yes I have been released and have been declared infection free. I understand that until we convene and clear this officially that you will be acting as Chief Warlock. Hopefully we can get this cleared quickly so we can restore order to the society a large quickly" Albus stated with practiced ease.

"Well there might be a slight problem with that. You see as much as I would like to convene the Wizengamot and clear your name and return control to you, we do not have the minimum members in attendance to from a quorum."

"What? How could that be?" Dumbledore says scanning around at the large number of empty seats.

"The infection claimed 60 seat holders." Malcolm explained.

"Yes I see that, but even without those 60 seats, you only need 127 out remaining 151.", doing a quick count Albus realized there were not enough members and then stated, "Simply suspend the 60 seat holders under article 107, for being detained for medical or criminal reasons and then call the role, that way you'll only need 91 to call the quorum, surely we have enough that way." Albus answered.

"Yes Albus, I know how to call an emergency role, however if you would have been here on time you would have realized we already tried that. It seems the 60 seats cannot be suspended as they have all already been transferred to new heads of house. We have already attempted to send owls to notify the families of the emergency meeting, however they all came back without being delivered. With those 60 seats missing, and the fact that only 3 of the 14 council seats are able to be filled, that leaves us 139 seat, which should still be able to be used to convene. However as you can see we only have 97 heads present that leaves up 30 seats short for the quorum. We cannot convene the Wizengamot until we can get the those other 30 seats filled, as I'm sure your aware." Malcolm fired back with a slight touch of sarcasm. 

Looking a bit miffed at being talked to in the tone, Albus mentally redid the math and unfortunately could find no fault or think of a way around the issue. "We are going to have to determine who the missing members are and have the notices delivered manually if need be." Albus added.

"Already working on it, however the role if only listing family names, not addresses or the full name of the current head. We dispatched a scribe to the archives to get the information, until then we wait." Malcolm fired back.

"Ah, then I guess we wait." Albus conceded unhappily and took a seat. 

...

 

[Ragnok's Private Meeting Room, 7:40AM Wednesday Morning]

Harry looked at the 4' tall white and light gray great owl in front of him, still in shock of the changes that had happened to Hedwig, saying nothing about the fact that she was talking. Noticing the incoming goblins with weapons raised, Harry put his hand out and a shield separated Hedwig from the goblins.

"Ragnok, I think they can stand down, I will take care of any damage Hedwig caused." Harry stated.

Ragnok looked slightly unnerved by both the 4' owl and the shield that had completely stopped his goblins, but quickly snapped out of it and recovered. "Stand down. Make sure my office is secure otherwise you can leave us." Ragnok ordered.

"But sir, it broke through the banks wards and broke into your office through the security glass windows." one of the guards explained.

"I understand. Griphook have the wards repaired and replace the security glass. I will finish up handling everything here." Ragnok ordered.

"Understood. Harry, My Lady, if you will excuse me." Griphook attempted to leave when he came upon the shield. "By your leave Harry" Griphook added. With another wave of his hand, Harry cancelled the shield and Griphook exited giving Hedwig a wide berth and closing the doors behind him.

"Harry. Mine. you changed, you bigger, better. I found you." Hedwig added as soon as the door closed.

Chuckling a little at that Harry replied, "Yes I am better and yes bigger than before, but so are you. What happened and when did you start talking?"

"Went Sleep, woke up in broken hard nest, very hungry, hunted, ate, slept, then look for you Harry, Mine, three cycles, then sensed you here, then found you." Hedwig answered

'Three to Four days' Harry thought, then looked at Rosa. "Any thoughts on this?" Harry asked.

"Hedwig was, is your familiar, she gains her extra long life through the familiar bond with you, I would assume the sleep she mentioned happened when you died, but since you were reborn so quickly she probably started to recover as your body evolved. I can only assume her change in form and size to that of a Great Owl, and the onset of abilities has to do with her channeling the flow of your excess energy during the past couple days, her language skills will continue to develop the more she uses them." Rosa answered, a deep inhale came from Ragnok.

"Is there a problem Ragnok?" Harry asked.

"No Harry, not a problem, just another in a long line of surprises since we met. There has not been a Great Owl alive in the past 300 years, they went extinct. They were considered a good omen, as they will only bond with those of good intentions, much like the phoenix, as I believe you are familiar with." Ragnok added with a bit of humor in his voice.

"Harry, Mine. Who is bonded, she looks like you, feel like me." Hedwig asked.

Realizing Hedwig was sensing Rosa's phoenix form, Harry answered, "Hedwig, this is my wife Rosa, she is also a phoenix which is why she feels like you. She is family." Harry put his arm around Rosa as he was talking.

"Hello Hedwig. Harry has told me all about you, thank you for keeping him company all those years. We will have to keep an eye on him, as he has gotten into a lot of trouble during your absence." Rosa explained with a grin as she looked at Harry.

"Harry, Mine. Always in trouble, not always his fault. But trouble anyway." Hedwig answered back.

"What is this beat up on Harry day, I just come back from the dead, go through an insane number of very painful inheritance ritual, find out my guardian and the government is stealing from me, find out my owl has evolved into an extinct species, and what do I get, picked on! Where is the love?" Harry exclaimed have heartedly.

"See trouble." Rosa fired back with a smirk.

"Yes, Harry Mine, trouble." Hedwig answered back.

Throwing his hands up in the air, "Fine, I give up, for now. After being married nineteen times you figured I would know better than to try to win an argument with the wife." Harry exclaimed.

"Nineteen times ?" Ragnok asked 

"Memories of being married nineteen times, never mind my verb tenses I am still sorting what all I remember. Anyway back to what I want you to do about these thefts, and I have an idea on how I am going to announce my return." Harry stated as he retook his seat.

Meanwhile Rosa had moved to the far corner of the room with Hedwig.

"Now what is this Harry, Mine! business" Rosa asked quietly but forcefully.

...

[DMLE Headquarters, Amelia Bones Office, 8:45AM Wednesday]

With a green flare of flame from the floo, Amelia Bones exited the floo into her office, quickly followed by Sirius Black and Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"Sorry Sirius, I thought we could have wrapped this up this morning, I did not even consider the Wizengamot not being able to convene." Amelia stated in a friendly tone, now believing Sirius was innocent after his interrogation was complete.

"Don't worry about it Amelia, I waiting eleven years for this chance, another day or two isn't going to kill me. At least I got my chance to tell me story, and have a couple people that believe me now." Sirius replied.

"Well at least the holding cells are better than Azkaban, and you have access to a restroom. I will get you on the docket as soon as the Wizengamot convenes." Amelia promised.

"I believe you, now since you both ..." Sirius started as an messaging spell quickly appeared in front of Amelia.

"Hold on a second Sirius." Amelia interrupts. Quickly Amelia reviews the message and looks almost excited for the first time in days.

"Kingsley get ever available Auror that is not attached to the infected list and get over to St Mungos, the infected are waking up and I want certified testimonies under Veritaserum with everyone one of them. I want questions going back to the first war and a confirmation of the Imperious curse for any that used that defense and escape questioning. I also want to know the circumstances of how each took the mark and what happened to cause them to pass out. Just to ensure the public safety of course." Amelia said with a smile, knowing this was her one chance to question these 'Lords' without interference from the Minister as this was a DMLE matter until the Wizengamot reconvene and told them otherwise. 

"Right on it, what about Sirius" Kingsley asked.

"As long as Sirius promises to behave I think I can escort him down to his cell by myself." Amelia stated.

"Fine by me, haven't had the opportunity to spend time with a lady alone for over eleven years, might be a bit out of practice, but I think I can control myself." Sirius said with the first bit of humor he could remember having for the past decade.

"If you're sure, Amelia." Kingsley prompted.

"Go, this is our one chance to do this right." Amelia ordered.

"Right." Kingsley stated as he headed out the door.

"Let's go Sirius" Amelia motioned towards the door.

...

[Hogwarts, Great Hall, 9:00AM Wednesday]

Minerva and the staff, including Flitwick were sitting at the head table watching over the students.  
The could tell most of the student body was just going through the motions, as this was the day before they headed home and there were no classes schedule for the day.

The doors of the Great Hall opened and Albus entered in yet another garish outfit only he could wear. He walked toward the head table head held high as if there was not a problem in the world. Had he looked closer he would have seen several suspicious stares coming from throughout the student body. He approached the podium and called the students to attention. 

"May I have your attention. As you can see both Professor Flitwick and myself have been released from St. Mungos having been declared infection free. " there was a polite applause from most of the student body at this statement. Albus continued, "Thank you, however it has also be concluded as you might have read, that the infected are all marked Death Eaters or former Death Eaters, early this morning it was discovered that any of the infected that were current heads of house have been disposed from their position. If I call your name, please plan to stay after end of year feast for a meeting with myself and the other heads so we can inform you of any travel arrangement changes for you tomorrow morning.." he then reached into his robe and pulled a long parchment out, "The names are ..."

...

[DMLE Holding Cell, 9:15A Wednesday Morning]

Sirius was being lead back into his holding cell by Amelia.

"Sorry again Sirius, they should have the Wizengamot convened in the next day or so, and I will make sure you go before the infected." Amelia stated

"I wanted to ask about that, what infected ?" Sirius asked.

"There seems to be an infection that targeted Death Eaters and it infected over 90 people. Once it ran its' course the infected were left either as squibs or muggles. It really seems to be based on their initial magical strength before the infection, the stronger ones ended up squibs, the weaker ones muggles. I can't think of a better sentence for a Death Eater than to be turned into a muggle." Amelia replied.

"I agreed, plus since I am neither a squib or a muggle, I would guess that will help my case. Now, since you know I did not do what I was accused of, do you think I could have some parchment and a quill. I want to write to my godson to explain what is going on and let him know in my own words, until I can see him." Sirius replied.

Amelias' expression quickly changed to remorse, then she indicated Sirius to sit down on his cot. "Sirius you should sit down, I think I better fill you in on all the recent events before you write to anyone." Amelia said softly, while digging into her bag and pulling several of the last days Daily Prophet out and handing them to Sirius, the top headline read, "Boy-Who-Lived killed at Hogwarts" and that was all Sirius read before he collapsed in shock.

...

 

[Ragnok's Private Meeting Room, 9:30AM Wednesday Morning]

The table was clear as Griphook was putting the last of the ledgers and account information back into their appropriate boxes. At the table sat Ragnok, Harry and Rosa, with Hedwig sitting on a metal perch guarding over the meeting. 

"Ok, have the notices gone out to the families I gained control over through the Conquest spell?" Harry asked.

"Yes, they went out and the orders to all the house elves have been conveyed." Ragnok answered.

"Your goblin team has been gathered for the harvest of the Basilisk and the multiple sheddings?" Harry asked.

"They are ready when you are. Ragnok replied again.

"Hedwig will you be able to find Potter Manor from the information Ragnok supplied?" Harry asked.

"Harry. Mine I can, don't want to leave you again." Hedwig answered.

"It will only be for a day or so Hedwig, and trying to explain my change alone will be difficult, trying to explain that I am married, and that you are now a Great Owl would be too difficult. We will be there in two days, if not feel free to come get me okay?" Harry explained.

Hoping from one foot to the next out of habit, was sort of humorous to see as the perch leaned with Hedwigs' new weight, but she finally stop and conceded, "Alright Harry, Mine! but if not home in two cycles I hunt you." 

Chuckling "Okay, now the hard part, Rosa I think for this story to work, you are going to have to stay in your phoenix form for my return.." Harry started.

"What! Why?" Rosa started 

"Let me finish. You know Dumbledore, he is going to go crazy on everything that is going on, then there will be those that claim I came back through some dark magic ritual, what better way to neutralize both of these factors than to state that Fawkes sacrificed HIS life to grant me mine, and that his daughter choose to bond with me once I returned. It will stop Dumbledore from searching for Fawkes, he won't attempt to bind you as it will be public knowledge that we are bound, which of course could not have happened if I was dark. Plus in human form you are going to be another target and I don't want you to be in danger or to have to expose your true form, until we are ready. Then we can leave for the summer to parts unknown to anyone and when we return a few week later to claim the castle, I introduce you as my wife through a soul bond, and your connection to Merlin explains our claim to Hogwarts. Plus as I explained the entrance I want to make your presence will help cover exactly how I arrive. " Harry said rapidly to get it out before Rosa could interrupt.

"...." Rosa didn't reply as she thought that argument through and realized that with the chaos his reappearance is likely to cause, having a phoenix on his shoulder would be more useful for both crowd control as well as quick escapes. "Alright, I have been feeling trapped in this form anyway, but you owe me some flight time, and you still owe me my honeymoon, so plan to pay up when we get back to Potter Manor." Rosa replied.

"Yes My Lady." Harry answered back with a little cheek.

"Harry, why not just claim the castle immediately, it is your after all?" Ragnok asked.

"Easy, to keep Dumbledore off guard. First he has to deal with the theft and fallout from that. I expect him to take refuge in the castle and the Wizengamot. Then I appear in the Wizengamot to take control of my seats. They can't stop me as without my seats they don't have a forum and can convene as they learned this morning. Without a forum they can't vote to stop me from claiming the seats. Once I take the seats I control 48% of the vote, so they will never get the 60% needed to challenge any of my seats. Then I bring up the thefts and put forward a vote to remove him from the Chief Warlock position, forcing him again back to the castle. I let the story leak to the media about what he has done, and invite the international press to Hogwarts for a press conference, and publicly claim the castle and bar him from the castle and the grounds, depositing him right in from of the media for questioning. And then ...." Harry continued to explain his plans.

...

 

[Hogwarts, Great Hall, 5:30PM Wednesday]

The faculty, minus Snape and Poppy where watching over the students. The full student body was in attendance waiting for the end of year feast to begin and chatter was heard covering the Great Hall with conversations ranging about summer plans, to the unfortunate upcoming funeral. Several pureblood students looked worried about the meeting after the feast and it showed. Albus approached the podium and the Great Hall quieted down.

"Alas another year of Hogwarts has come to an end and one of the saddest note I can think of. It has been decided by all the heads of house that the House Cup will not be awarded on points this year, but by the deeds of one of our own. Therefore the house cup and a permanent award for exceptional school service is awarded to Harry Potter and Griffyndor." there was a small but heartfelt applause for this statement. "For those that are returning next year, remember that opportunity was paid for by his action and his sacrifice as it was the decision of the school board to close the school if anything continued to happen. For those that are completing your education here at Hogwarts remember his actions, he made the most difficult of decisions, to 'Do what is right, Not what was easy'. I ask everyone to share in a moment of silence before we start our meal." Dumbledore concluded.

The room became unnervingly quiet for that moment of silence, even the Slytherin table stayed quiet to avoid another stay in the infirmary. Suddenly the silence was broken, but not by Dumbledore but by a crack of lightning in the ceiling of the Great Hall. The student and faculty were startled by the sound and quickly students started point up at the ceiling. Gone was the scene of the clear night sky, replacing it was the site of a storm of epic proportions, lightning and thunder filled the scene and blocked out all other noise. Dumbledore was scanning the ceiling with his wand.

"What is it Albus?" Minerva asked.

"I'm not sure, somehow the charms to the Great Hall have been overridden." Albus answered looking shocked.

Before anything else could be said, the ceiling again lit up with the show of lightning, but this time a bolt left the ceiling and struck the floor in the middle of the Great Hall causing the students to recoil away from it, immediately a second, and another and another struck the same place, until an almost continuous stream of lightning was hitting the same spot sending sparks and creating a column of flame from the floor to the ceiling. Then as sudden as the storm started it disappeared and then a figure could be seen coming out of the slowly diminishing column of flame. 

The figure of a very fit young man approximately 16 or 17 years old, shoulder length black hair, wearing a pair of white loose fitting dress pants and white soft tip shoes stepped out of the flame, seemingly unharmed, upon his exposed chest and back was a full size phoenix tattoo or impression. On the figures shoulder sat a large white phoenix with red tipped wings and an orange band around its neck. As the figure completely cleared the column of fire the flames disappeared, leaving the floor in its original unmarked condition. The figure took two steps and raised his face to the head table and opened his eyes, revealing a pair of almost pulsating emerald green eyes, and then he spoke.

"Sorry, am I late for dinner?" Harry spoke with a smile.

Minerva, Hagrid, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Ron, Neville, and about a dozen others looked in shock and then promptly passed out in shock. Albus, Flitwick and most of the remaining students stood shocked still staring at Harry with many of their mouths hanging open.

Harry looked at Helena and said "too much?", for which he promptly received a smack on the back of the head by one of her wings, as Helena sent the thought back 'you think.'

...


	20. Chapter 20

[Hogwarts, Great Hall, 5:35PM Wednesday]

As Harrys' head bent down from being hit by Helena's wing he finally noticed his appearance. He looked up to the ceiling of the Great Hall and called out, "What the bloody hell happened to my clothes!"

A low hum sound was heard throughout the hall and then Harry looked back up to the ceiling and called out with a slight bit of humor in his voice, "No I do not look better this way!".

'Well actually' Helena sent back, only to be interrupted by Harry's reply, 'Don't you start, I need to get this done and me being dress this way is only going to prompt more questions'

Another low hum sound was heard throughout the hall and then Harry called out with the same slight bit of humor in his voice, "Fine, I look better to you, now can I have my clothes back, please."

In a shimmer of light Harry was covered first in a soft gray almost white tunic like shirt , then covered in a similar colored set of duelist robes. Harry thought he had heard several moans of disappointment from around the hall, which was quickly confirmed by an almost snicker like trill from Helena on his shoulder. Harry then looked up at the Hogwarts staff when he saw Dumbledore start to more down the stairs and toward him with his wand out and he looked upset.

"I don't know who you are or how you pulled that bit of magic off, but I find your taking the late Mr. Potter's appearance, even if it is not quite right as an offense to his memory" Dumbledore said with conviction.

Harry looked amused and replied, "Really Headmaster, after two years and our personal history, you doubt what you see with your own eyes. Furthermore, as Headmaster of the school you would have been notified if I had forced my way through the wards, which from your surprised expression your were not. If you are still not convinced, the fact that I have a phoenix on my shoulder should at least convince you I am not a threat."

'I can't deny the phoenix's presence being a sign of being on the side of light without tarnishing my own image, and putting into why Fawkes has not been around.' Dumbledore thought to himself quickly, and then answered in his grandfatherly tone, "Yes, I am quite aware that a phoenix is a symbol of a light sided wizard, but that does not excuse the use of Mr. Potter's image. It seem you are unaware that Mr. Potter passed away several days ago and his death was witnessed by then entire school. Now to whom am I addressing?" Dumbledore said trying to look into the intruders eyes to create a connection so he could find his own answer, his eyes started to twinkle..

Noticing the twinkle, and know from Helena's memories that this was the sign that Dumbledore was trying to look into his mind, Harry avoided looking directly into Dumbledore's eyes to avoid the result his mental probe would cause. He then replied, "Headmaster, I am Harry Potter, ask me something only the two of us would know." this statement snapped several of the students out of their shock and murmurs were heard throughout the hall as students got up to see if it was Harry.

"Students stay seated." Dumbledore commanded and the students returned to their seats, but the murmurs continued. Eyes still twinkling and trying to make the connection, Dumbledore looked slightly taken back that this intruder claimed to be Harry Potter, before replying, "If you are Mr Potter, what did I say I saw when I looked into the mirror you were caught looking at in your first year?"

Harry smiled and answered "You mean the Mirror of Erised. You said "You saw yourself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks." and continued when I question you, "One can never have enough socks. And that another Christmas had come and gone and you still didn't get a pair and that people insisted on giving you books." 

The shock was clear of Dumbledore's face as that was exactly what he had said. The thought that this might be Harry quickly caused him to review what he was seeing. If Harry would have been his full height and weight, and not weakened by the curse scar and his muggle relatives, this might be how he looked. He could see James and Lily Potter in the person appearance in front of him. The lines of the prophecy came to him,  
and he thought it through 'since Harry's death was not caused directly by Voldemort, maybe just maybe this was Harry and his plans were not completely destroyed'. Recovering from his shock Dumbledore lowered his wand but did not put it away and asked with a smile on his face, "If you are Mr. Potter, would you be able to explain what has happened and how you arrived in such an awe inspiring way?"

Looking around at the student body and the fact that he has arrived during the exiting feast, Harry replied, "Headmaster, I would be more than willing to answer your questions, preferably in a slightly less public venue, but would it be possible to have something to eat first? As you said it has been several days and the Chamber does not have anything that would even remotely pass for food." Harry then looked at the food on the tables and his friends that were still staring in shock.

Seeing Harry eyeing the tables plus figuring this would give him time to formulate what he was going to ask, Dumbledore replied. "Yes, one would imagine you are quite hungry, but as the answers to your questions are paramount to proving your identify, I suggest we retire to the staff chambers off the back of the hall and I will have the elves bring you some food and drink."

"That would be fine, however due to my entrance I would think saying something to the rest of the students would probably be in order first, otherwise our exit may be delayed." Harry answered back while indicating the staring students with his hands.

Realizing they were the absolute center of attention and the truth of Harry's statement Dumbledore addressed the students with open arms "A most momentous occurrence, it would appear that Mr. Potter has been returned to us." Dumbledore paused at the sounds of confusion being made by the student and faculty about his declaration. Seeing several students, mostly Harrys' friends start to get up Dumbledore continued, "Alas, I must insist you to be patient in welcoming him back until we can confirm this is indeed Mr. Potter and how this has occurred. I ask all students to please stay seated. Prefects please watch the students and make sure no one leaves the Great Hall. " looking back to the staff table, "Minerva, Filius, Madam Sprout and Poppy please follow us to the staff chamber" Dumbledore concluded indicating the door to the rear of the great hall.

Harry looked over toward the Griffyndor table, seeing Hermione, Ron and Ginny as well as Neville and the twins staring at him, he gave them a slight wave and called out "Hi guys, I explain everything once I am done with Dumbledore." which had the effect of causing Ginny, Hermione and Ron to zone out in shock once again.  
Harry looked slightly amused and turn and heading in the direction the Headmaster had indicated. As he entered though the doorway he could just hear the Great Hall explode into noise and conversation as the door closed.

...

 

[DMLE General Holding Cells, Wednesday 5:30PM]

The general cells were packed with recently medically discharged "Infected". Unlike the private cell which were on a separate floor, the general cells held between 2 to 4 accused and had prison style double cots on both sides of the walls. Several voices could be heard above the general noise of complaints.

"This is outrageous, I demand to see the Minister at once, do you know who I am?" Lucius Malfoy call out.

"What is the meaning of this, I am a Lord of a Most Noble house, even if you have the right to hold me which you don't, I demand to be housed separately and have my solicitor present." another Lord called out.

"I am a Lord of a Pureblood line, I claim family protection until I can speak with my family solictor." another called out.

The door to the general cell area opened and Madam Bones entered with two Aurors, immediately she raised her wand and cast silencio and everything went quiet, even though the prisoners continued to rant for a moment until they realized no one, including themselves could hear anything they were saying.

"Much better, now I would like to explain what is a happening and what is going to be happening for the rest of tonight and into tomorrow. Let me start by conveying an interesting bit of news I received this afternoon that pertains to all of you ...

 

[FLASHBACK, Wednesday Madam Bones Office, 1:30PM]

Amelia was reviewing paperwork about Lord Blacks arrest and the answers he had given during his interview. Just then a knock at her door was heard she called out "Enter" and her assistant entered holding a large eagle owl on her arm bearing the Gringotts crest carrying a parcel. 

"He would not let anyone remove that parcel and it seems it is enchanted only to be delivered to you?" her assistant explained.

Amelia stood to move toward the owl and could swear it looked right in to her before moving from the assistants arm and landing on Amelia's desk and waited for the package to be removed. Looking at the package to see if anything seem off about it, Amelia raised her wand and did a quick security scan. Finding nothing but a strong goblin mail direct ward she removed the package. Immediately the owl took flight and exited the still open door. Reaching for the parcel the packaged expanded to the size of a large tome.

'What the blazes could Gringotts be sending me a tome for and what warranted the use of a high security own.' Amelia thought to herself before excusing her assistant "You can return to your desk, make sure I am not disturbed unless it is an emergency." She then opened the tome to find a loose single piece of parchment.

'Madam Bones,

We at Gringotts have been instructed to present the following list of houses that have had a recent change of Lordship. 

While our client wishes to remain unknown at this time, they will be presenting themselves at the next Wizengamot meeting to be recognized. 

The remaining families are being notified of the recent change at this time, our client thought you might be able to deliver the notifications to the previous Lords and Ladies yourself. Our client even went as far as assuming you might enjoy delivering this news, as you are currently arranging to have them moved to DMLE holding cells.

Finally we have be instructed to explain that all of the former Heads have been banished from their prior families as the new Head of House found them and their behavior unforgivable and in direct conflict of the houses new views. Furthermore access to family funds, solicitors, items, homes, etc have been cutoff in accordance to their banishment. 

As such we would suggest using general cells as the former heads will not have access to funds to cover private cells.

We hope this information is useful and look forward to the dawn of a new era in the Wizengamot.

 

Griphook  
Account Manager

Gringotts Bank  
Diagon Alley, England.'

 

Quickly realizing that this was not a prank and also realizing that he job was about to get much easier now that she did not have to worry about some Lord or Lady calling about protections of Ancient Houses or fighting high paid solicitors a almost evil grin found its way on to Amelias' face.

[END FLASHBACK]

 

".... So you see, you are no longer Heads of anything, nor are you a Lord or Lady of a house to claim protection, access to solicitors and have no funds to demand private housing, so I recommend you sit down and be quiet. We will be starting to process your interviews shortly...." Amelia finished.

Waiting as the facts were processed on their faces she cancelled the silence spell and was only slightly surprised at the fact that no one said anything. She turned to leave, but stopped and turned around to deliver one more blow to the defeated.

"Oh I almost forgot, based on your banishment from your former houses and in conjunction with all of your medical files, you have all been reclassified as either squibs or muggles. Due to this fact you will all be afforded the rights provided by the regulations you helped passed in the Wizengamot on the handling of squibs and muggles in magical court. I look forward to the interviews." Amelia explained and walked out of the room with a slight smirk on her face, just as the noise exploded once again.

...

 

[Hogwarts, Staff Chamber off of the Great Hall, 5:40PM]

Dumbledore sealed the room with a privacy spell and then took the seat at the head of the table. Harry was seated at the opposite end and had just bit into one of the sandwiches the house elf had set-up for him. 

"No Mr. Potter, since we are all here would you please explain what just happened?" Dumbledore started.

Harry looked at the people in attendance all looking eager to hear the explanation of what happened and asked, "Headmaster, while I would normally be happy to exclude him, since the other Heads of House are present, shouldn't Professor Snape be here, I would rather not be accused of hiding this information from him."

Looking a bit uncomfortable explaining Severus's condition Dumbledore responded, "Professor Snape is not able to attend at this time as he has recently fallen ill. We will pass the information on to him once he returns, and I will make sure to explain you inquired about his attendance so he know you were no hiding anything. Now please explained what has happened, we all saw the memory from the sorting hat of what transpired in the Chamber of Secrets so can you pick up from where you seemed to have passed on?"

Thinking about it Harry started, "Well in that case, that speeds the story up a bit, so the best place to start would be once I died .." 

"Don't you mean almost died ?" Dumbledore interrupted.

"No, I mean died, and please let me get this all out, as I have been trying to think how to explain this for the last day as I was trying to get out of the Chamber. I will take questions afterwards, just let me try to get this all out." Harry answered back.

"Of course, please do continue." Dumbledore replied, not happy at being corrected by a student, but hid it well.

"Right, as I was saying I had just died, and I was awaiting the white light I had heard about when I was growing up, or seeing my parents or anything but all I got was the sense of being trapped... no not trapped... stuck, yes stuck is a better term. I felt I was stuck in my body and I could not move on. I knew I was not longer breathing and I felt no pain, but I felt stuck. I felt I was stuck behind something and could not move on until it had, when all the sudden whatever was blocking me finally cleared out of the way and I started to feel I was finally moving on. Then there was a flash of intense light and heat, for a second I thought I had done something wrong and been judged wanting and was on my way down as they say.." Harry paused at the look of worry on several of the professors faces.

"A feeling that was only amplified as I literally felt myself burn up and then awaken to the sharp reality of being an infant. I only had a second to realize this as my body was being racked back and forth in pain as over the next several hours my body aged, expanded, stretched, popped and grew into the form you see now." Harry paused again as everyone had seemed to be stuck between a gasp and shock and he though several of the professors might pass out.

After a minute as people started to recover he continued, "I then heard a female voice, almost musical in nature." Harry looked up at Helena sitting on the rim of the high back chair he was sitting in. "The voice explained that her name was Helena and that she was the daughter of Fawkes. The voice explained that Fawkes had realized I was trapped in my body due to the residue of an evil soul that had been housed where my scar used to be. I can only assume some part of Voldemort had tried to latch on to me and it was that piece that was keeping me trapped." Harry explained as he heard several gasps of shock and more worry about any continued Voldemort involvement.

"It seems Fawkes judged my actions worthy of intervention. He forced his way to a burning point by building energy up to the point of combustion, he then fell on top of me capturing my body in his reincarnation field. Helena explained Fawkes sacrificed himself to allow me to be reborn as it were, I don't think it was a fair trade." Harry stated somberly and with some depression, as more gasps were heard, including coming from Dumbledore.

'That is why I fell into exhausting when Fawkes died the energy I had been receiving stopped and it was the backlash that caused my exhaustion. However that also means I am going to need to find some way to replace that energy before I start to age again.' Dumbledore quickly thought to himself but did not interrupt.

"She then said she would be arriving soon and would be keeping an eye on me to make sure her father's sacrifice was not in vain. At this point I believe I passed out and when I awoke sometime later there was a baby phoenix next to me.." Harry indicated toward Helena. 

"Unfortunately I could not get out the way I came in as the way was blocked and it seemed Helena here had just gone through a burning of her own so she could not transport us out of the Chamber. Being hungry and not being able to cast anything as my wand was destroyed in the fire, I searched through the Chamber and more importantly the area behind the huge head of Slytherin that the Basilisk came out of. There I found a room of sorts, more like a wardrobe and found these clothes." indicating his clothes, "if nothing else it seems Slytherin had good taste in clothes. When I put them on, they resized to fit me, and I then looked around some more but found nothing that could help. I went back to the main chamber and came across the sword of Gryffindor. It was then I remembered something you said Headmaster." Harry stated.

Realizing the pause, Dumbledore prompted, "And what exactly was that Mr Potter?"

"That Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.... figuring I had nothing to lose I grasped the sword and hoped someone was listening and asked for help. You can imagine my shock and surprise when a ghost of a young lady appeared in answer to my call.." Harry paused once more, he admitted to himself that if he didn't know better he might believe the load of crap he was describing.

"Which ghost appeared Mr Potter?" was asked by a shocked sounding Minerva.

Turning to face her Harry answered, "She introduced herself as the Lady Hogwarts, which I didn't even know existed, and I am sure if it was widely know Hermione would have mentioned about reading about it in "Hogwarts a History", which I guess I am going to have to read now that I have a second chance." pausing as a few chuckles were heard from the professors that knew of Hermiones love of that book.

"Mr Potter, I hate to interrupt this wonderful tale you have spun, but this bit here lets me know your story is not completely true. There is no Lady Hogwarts ghost, as Headmaster I know off all the ghosts in the castle, so do you want to start again and give us the truth?" Dumbledore interrupted and Harry could see some of the teachers were doubting his story now.

"Well Headmaster, you are right in that there is no Lady Hogwarts ghost." Harry started

"As I just explained, and now the truth please" Dumbledore cut Harry off and leaned toward him to prompt him to tell the truth.

All the sudden the rumble sound that was heard in the Great Hall seemed to come from the very walls of the room. Harry looked up and smiled, and then looked at Dumbledore and said, "She said to turn around." 

All those in attendance turned to the wall behind Dumbledore where the Hogwarts crest was mounted on the wall. The center of the crest seemed to start to move and then the crest seemed transform or melt into a set of robes depicting the four houses and the Hogwarts crest. Motion was then seen behind the robes as the metal from the crest seemed to pour out of the frame and into the robes to take a female form approximately 5'5 in height, slender build and dark mid back level straight hair. The metal then seemed to changing into a skin tone and then the head tilted up and the eyelids opened showing nearly glowing crystal blue eyes, those in the room could swear the temperature in the room dropped as they heard what only could be Lady Howarts say curtly, "I may not be a ghost my young Headmaster, but I most certainly exist." 

 

...


End file.
